TIRUNELVELI: The state government is yet to implement the eight recommendations put forth by high-level inquiry officer P Amudha in her interim report, which was submitted to the chief secretary on April 19, 2023, in connection with the Balveer Singh custodial torture cases. The government, however, considered Amudha’s suggestion of transferring the cases to the CB-CID.
According to senior IAS officer Amudha’s report, which was accessed by TNIE, the victims have stated that public prosecutor (PP) Thirumalaikumar and his junior Ganesh negotiated with them to ensure that they do not report the alleged torture to Cheranmahadevi Sub-Collector or break it to the media.
“The PP allegedly paid Rs 30,000 each to the three victims - Lakshmi Shankar, Subash, and Venkatesh - at Manimuthar canteen on March 25, 2023, and had noted that Singh had paid out of his pocket. He also threatened Subash’s wife to withdraw the complaint she had filed in court regarding her husband going missing from the Tirunelveli government hospital on March 24, 2023. Appropriate action may be taken against PP Thirumalaikumar for aiding the police to cover up the alleged incident at Kallidaikurichi police station,” said Amudha. Sources, however, said that the state government did not bring Thirumalaikumar to book.
As part of the other four recommendations, Amudha had advised that police officials, who were involved in the custodial torture incidents be immediately transferred out of the district to ensure free and fair investigation. They include Inspector Rajakumari, Sub-Inspector Abraham Joseph, Sub-Inspector Murugesh, police personnel Sudalai, Rajkumar, Saddam, Andrews, Bazeer, Thivansha Sheikh Barid, Padmanabhan, Esakki, Vignesh, Bogha Bomman, Manikandan, Vincent, Mahalakshmi, and Ramalingam. However, most of these police personnel were transferred within the district. Some of them even continued at the same police station for months, and a few others like Rajakumari, who was transferred to another district, managed to get a transfer back to Tirunelveli later.
The state government also failed to take action against Dr Jaishankar, the medical officer of Ambasamudram government hospital, who according to Amudha’s submission, had given a ‘nil injury’ report on the six victims who were brought to him by the police with severe injuries. Amudha had also recommended high-quality tertiary care at a reputed dental care hospital and psychological counselling for the victims.
Rajeshwari, the mother of two victims, told TNIE that no treatment was arranged by the state government.
“Amudha also recommended the arrangement of protection, free legal aid, and lawyer support for us. However, I continue to face threats, with police personnel Arockia James demanding that I withdraw the case. The assistant public prosecutor in Tirunelveli did not insist on the arrest of Singh and other police personnel when the cases were heard by the judicial magistrate,” alleged Rajeshwari, who also has a copy of Amudha’s interim report.