MADURAI: The state government is trying to shield the IPS officers from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the Ambasamudram custodial torture case, alleged People’s Watch Executive Director Henri Tiphagne. He urged Chief Minister MK Stalin to release the high-level inquiry report submitted by IAS officer P Amudha.
Speaking to media persons, Tiphagne appreciated Amduha for her genuine and transparent report in the alleged custodial torture case involving IPS officer Balveer Singh. After the victims were tortured in police stations on March 10 and 23, an inquiry was conducted by Sub-divisional Magistrate Cheranmahadevi and Sub Collector Md. Shabbir Alam.
After the victims of the alleged torture spoke to media outlets, the chief minister appointed Amudha to conduct a high-level probe in April 2023.
However, the report was kept a secret. Meanwhile, Arunkumar, a victim, had approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court and sought for the report to be released. Following a subsequent appeal, the state government released the interim report on Thursday.
Tiphagne said the CB-CID omitted the names of non-SC/ST officers in the chargsheet, to safeguard them from the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act). However, the names of these officers are mentioned in Amudha’s report. Questioning the discrepancy, he said, “I don’t know why the Stalin government is trying to shield officers like Balveer Singh.
They failed to act against him and his suspension was revoked easily. Had Amudha’s recommendations been implemented on time, Balveer Singh’s suspension would not have been revoked. It is disheartening that the accused are being protected. We will approach the high court seeking justice.”