TIRUNELVELI, THOOTHUKUDI : A day after a young man died in custody after the police in Thoothukudi picked him up following a quarrel with a police personnel, his family members alleged that his body bore marks of the brutal assault by the policemen at Thoothukudi South police station.
The footage from the three CCTV cameras installed inside the station would establish this, claimed relatives, seeking a fair probe fix responsibility and award appropriate punishment for the personnel involved.
A Pandiarajan, a 34-year-old from Thottaakudi village in Nanguneri, Tirunelveli, who sold cleaning agents for a living, had gone to attend a feast organised by Abishekaathar Church in Chidambara Nagar on Friday. There was an altercation between a policewoman and a person, who was later taken away on a police vehicle, said a person who witnessed the incident.
According to police, Pandiarajan was detained after he used obscene words against the woman personnel and obstructed her from performing her duty. Based on her complaint, a case was registered against him under sections 354 (outraging a woman’s modesty) and 294(b) (using obscene words) of IPS.
However, dismissing police’s charge, relatives claim that he was never known to use abusive words with anyone. “He is a person who stands up himself. The argument might have been triggered by the policewoman’s ill-treatment. His friends told us that she grabbed his collar, and when he questioned her mistreatment, she assaulted him,” A Sivakumar, Pandiarajan’s elder brother told Express.
Both he and Pandiarajan’s wife, Shanthi, saw bruises and boot marks on his upper body, alleged Sivakumar. “It is evident that the police pummelled him,” he added.
Backing this charge, Rajesh, who is part of the team of advocates who have taken up the case, said he could hear Pandiarajan’s screams from inside the police station when he went to release him. The personnel took turns to assault him, he alleged.
After the death triggered a controversy, police claimed that Pandiarajan developed chest pain while in custody and died soon afterwards. Police personnel visited his home late in the night to collect the tablets Pandiarajan was prescribed.
But the family strongly denied this, maintaining that the young man had no chest condition as is being made out. “It is true that he went to a hospital a few days ago after feeling a pain close to his chest. But the doctor said the pain emanated from the left shoulder, as he used to lift heavy weights when he worked as a coolie. We had the doctor’s report in our hand, but the police took hold of that,” a close relative alleged.
Speaking to Express, Thoothukudi SP Ashwin M Kotnis said that Pandiarajan was under the influence of alcohol when he abused the woman personnel. Denying allegations of police brutality, the officer said the investigation was done transparently and all human rights norms were followed.