MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the trial court here to complete the trial in a case wherein police negligence allegedly caused a man’s death.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh, who passed the order, also directed the State Home department to decide on payment of compensation to the family of the deceased, Vivekananda Kumar, within a month. The directions were issued on petitions filed by Kumar’s wife V Gajapriya.
Gajapriya said, on June 15, 2019, when Kumar was on a two-wheeler, a policeman, in an attempt to stop him, hit him with a lathi, causing him to fall off the bike and die. Stating that her infant son and herself lost their breadwinner, she requested the court to direct the government to provide her compensation and a government job. She also sought a transfer of the investigation into the death.
The additional public prosecutor (APP) told the court that pursuant to its earlier directions, the deputy commissioner of police (traffic) registered an FIR against the head constable concerned. The investigation was completed, the final report filed, and the trial is to commence soon, he added. As for compensation, the APP said the final report and Gajapriya’s request would be placed before the Home department.
The court observed that the status report filed by the DC Traffic showed that Kumar’s death was caused by negligence on the part of the police, who used “excessive force”, and therefore, the petitioner was entitled to compensation.
Call to be taken on criminal liability too
The judge said that as far as the criminal liability is concerned, the trial court is to deal with it and complete the trial within six months