MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court closed a contempt petition after the state government informed that Rs 20 lakh has been deposited by the home secretary in connection with the death of a 17-year-old boy, who died of custodial torture by the SS Colony police in Madurai in 2019. A division bench of Justices R Subramanian and L Victoria Gowri was hearing the petition filed by M Jeya complaining about the non-compliance of an earlier order passed by the court.
Earlier, an appeal was filed by the state challenging the order of the single bench which had directed the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to Jeya, who is mother of the boy. Taking into account that Rs 5 lakh was already paid, the court directed the state to deposit the remaining Rs 20 lakh. During the course of the hearing, the state informed that the home secretary had deposited Rs 20 lakh.
In her petition, Jeya said that her son was taken into police custody on January 13, 2019, in connection with a jewel theft case, and kept under illegal custody. Four days later, she received a phone call from her son asking her to come to the police station. She stated that he complained of severe pain as he was physically tortured by the police personnel. The boy, who was undergoing treatment at Government Rajaji Hospital, died on January 24, 2019.
Jeya had earlier filed a petition before the court seeking transfer of the investigation and the court had transferred the case to CB-CID. After the completion of the investigation, CB-CID filed the final report against four police personnel. The trial is under way before the Vth Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai.