MADURAI: In response to the complaints over the custodial deaths of a father-son duo in Thoothukudi, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP), Inspector General (IG) of Prisons and Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police (SP) and have sought a response within six weeks.
The NHRC's notice comes in response to the complaint of a Bangalore-based resident R Sureshbabu dated June 23. The Commission had also taken cognisance of the representations made by Thoothukudi MP MK Kanimozhi, Special Monitor of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Maja Daruwala and various media reports pertaining to the incident.
In the order dated June 29, the NHRC had called for an inquest, post-mortem examination report, treatment record of the victims, screening report of both the victims at the time of admission in the jail and any other report of inquiry conducted in the matter as well as the Magisterial Enquiry Report.
The Commission also warned that if there was no response to the notice within the stipulated time, it would summon the officials under section 13 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
On June 19, two traders P Jeyaraj (59) and his son J Beniks (31) were picked up for questioning by the Santhankulam Police for allegedly violating lockdown rules. As per the police, the duo was held for keeping their mobile accessories shop open beyond permissible hours on June 19 and an FIR was filed against the two on the same day.
They were allegedly brutally thrashed by the police while in custody, leading to their deaths. While Beniks fell ill and died at the Kovilpatti General Hospital on June 22, his father died on the morning of June 23. The incident had sparked shockwaves across the country with fresh twists on police tampering with evidence. Meanwhile, the state government had transferred the case to the CBI.