MADURAI: The father of R Akash of Manamadurai, who died allegedly due to custodial torture on March 8, told the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday that his son had narrated the brutal torture he suffered at the hands of Manamadurai police to the Manamadurai judicial magistrate a day before his death.
Advocate and activist Henri Tiphagne, who represented Akash’s father Rajesh Kannan, told the court the remand report recorded by the magistrate contained Akash’s statement, in which he claimed that he was blindfolded and his right leg, which was kept on stones and covered with a wet sack, was beaten using an iron rod, resulting in breaking of bones and bleeding with severe pain.
He further submitted the mortuary label relating to the deceased, which indicated that the cause of death involved ‘fat embolism’, which is commonly associated with fractures of long bones. On the contrary, the postmortem report is evasive and lacks even basic details of the prior treatment Akash received in Sivaganga,Tiphagne alleged, adding that Akash’s body is still in the mortuary as the family is awaiting expert opinion on the report.
The postmortem report mentioned as many as 29 injuries, most of which were abrasions except the fracture in the right leg. No opinion was recorded in the report by the forensic doctors awaiting chemical analysis and histopathology findings. Tiphagne pressed the court to direct inclusion of SC/ST Act in the FIR, by submitting Akash’s community certificate.
However, additional advocate general M Ajmal Khan argued that the sections would be altered after the judicial magistrate completes his inquiry under Section 196 BNSS. Justice L Victoria Gowri, who heard Kannan’s petition, pointed out that no preliminary inquiry is required under SC/ST Act and directed the Director General of Police (HoPF) to appoint a CB-CID officer not below the rank of deputy Superintendent of Police to take over investigation, with further directions to the officer to alter the FIR by including relevant provisions of SC/ST Act.
Taking note of the concerns raised by the AAG regarding the inconvenience caused to the public due to the continued protest in Manamadurai since Sunday, the judge further formed a peace committee consisting of three advocates- K Samidurai, C Mayilvahana Rajendran and KC Ramalingam- to persuade the protestors to shift their protest from the Manamadurai-Rameswaram National Highway to the Manamadurai Old Bus Stand, so that normal traffic movement is restored on the NH.
