MADURAI: Following allegations that the State government's Police Wellbeing Programme had gone into cold storage, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the government to reply on the status of the programme in two weeks.
A bench of Justices PN Prakash and R Hemalatha gave the direction while hearing a batch of petitions filed two years ago in connection with the death of trader P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks due to alleged custodial torture by the policemen of Sathankulam station in June 2020.
The Police Wellbeing Programme was launched by the State government in 2018, in collaboration with National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, to provide psychological counselling to the police personnel across the State.
In an interim order passed on July 2, 2020, in the suo motu petition filed over the Sathankulam incident, the High Court had told the State government that it should not abandon the programme midway because public security could be ensured only if the police force is physically, mentally and morally strong. The court had also directed the government to continue the programme for five years and to allocate funds for it.
However, when the petitions relating to Sathankulam case were heard on Thursday, a counsel, who appeared on behalf of one of the petitioners, alleged that the programme had gone into cold storage despite the court’s direction. Expressing concern over the same, the judges directed Additional Advocate General Veera Kathiravan to get a response from the government on the present status of the programme and adjourned the matter to August 4.
But the judges closed all the impleading petitions filed in the case since the case trial had already reached halfway. Meanwhile, they adjourned the suo motu contempt petition which was filed against three policemen for preventing a Kovilpatti Judicial Magistrate from conducting an inquiry at the Sathankulam police station.