Pay Rs 18L compensation to two in fake case, recover money from cop, says Madras HC
MADURAI: Ensuring justice to two men who were falsely implicated by police in a murder case in 2013 and slapped with NSA, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently directed the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 8 lakh each to victims VN Raja Mohamed and M Manoharan within four months and recover the compensation from Ratna Kumar, former inspector of Paramakudi police station.
Justice B Pugalendhi passed the order based on petitions filed by the victims in 2016, seeking compensation and departmental action against police officials who were responsible for their illegal detention in the murder of BJP town secretary Murugan alias Murugesan in Paramakudi in 2013.
According to the judgment, the petitioners were realtors and were close relatives. They were arrested by the Paramakudi town police over Murugan’s murder on April 6, 2013 and March 19, 2013, respectively, by citing a property dispute between them and the deceased’s father. They were also detained under the National Security Act. But when the case was later transferred to the CB-CID, the ‘real accused’ were identified and the petitioners were exonerated of all charges in July 2013.
But the petitioners submitted that even after being released from prison, they and their family members had to face several hardship. Mohamed’s wife, who was working as a secondary grade teacher, was compelled to resign from her job and their daughter’s marriage was cancelled, their counsel said.
‘Family forced to leave village due to stigma’
Manoharan’s family also faced similar difficulties and was forced to leave their native place due to the stigma, he added. When their petitions came up for hearing, the government counsel informed the court that the situation was a result of the improper investigation conducted by then police inspector Ratna Kumar. He also said departmental action was initiated against Kumar.
But Ratna Kumar denied the charges and contended that a mere filing of charge sheet discharging the petitioners does not mean a clean chit was given to them, especially since the case is still pending before the lower court. Justice Pugalendhi concluded that Kumar had conducted a perfunctory investigation and because of it, the petitioners were falsely implicated.