MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently ordered the state government to pay Rs 30 lakh compensation to the family of a 26-year-old man, who died due to custodial torture at Emaneswaram police station in Paramakudi in October 2012.
The order was passed by Justice P Dhanabal on a petition filed by R Senthil Kumar in 2013, seeking a CB-CID probe, compensation, and departmental action against eight police officials responsible for his brother's death.
According to the order, the deceased R Vengatesan was falsely implicated by Paramakudi police in a jewel theft case registered in 2010. On October 3, 2012, the accused policemen took him to Emaneswaram police station and brutally assaulted him, causing grievous injuries. Though he was taken to the Paramakudi government hospital for treatment, he succumbed to the injuries the next day.
Hearing Kumar's petition recently, Justice Dhanabal noted that the investigation was already entrusted to the CB-CID police and departmental action has been taken against the accused police officials. To the petitioner's grievance that the chargesheet was laid against only four officials and also his dissatisfaction over the punishment imposed on the officials, the judge advised him to approach the trial court and the higher officers respectively.
As far as the compensation was concerned, the judge noted that the government has already paid Rs 5 lakh compensation to the Vengatesan's family, which consisted of his wife and then newborn son. However, considering the petitioner counsel's argument that the said amount is meagre and that the high court has the power to award compensation for custodial death cases, Justice Dhanabal, by following the method adopted to calculate compensation in motor accident cases, directed the state government to pay `30 lakh compensation to Vengatesan's family (`10 lakh each to his mother, wife, and son), along with 6% interest per annum from the date of his death, within two months.