CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered setting up a team of three doctors from the government medical colleges in Salem and Tirunelveli for examining four of the re-arrested 17 escapees from the Theni district jail on October 26, and provide them treatment if required.
The order was passed by a division bench of justices AD Jagadish Chandira and B Karthikeyan on Tuesday while hearing a petition filed by K Arumugathammal — whose two sons escaped prison along with co-prisoners — seeking medical treatment after they were allegedly assaulted by prison staff.
The bench directed the deans of the government medical colleges to constitute a medical board and visit the central prison in Salem, where K Meenakshisundaram, N Solai Mugileswaran and P Sabarinathan are locked up, and Palayamkottai, where K Thiruppathi is imprisoned, to examine their health conditions.
The chairpersons and the secretaries of DLSA were directed to accompany the team. “Verify and examine the medical conditions and provide medical treatment, if necessary,” the bench ordered. Advocate P Pugalenthi appeared for the petitioner.
Arumugathammal, a resident of Madurai, alleged her sons, Meenakshisundaram and Thirupathi, and co-prisoners, Solai Mugileswaran and Sabarinathan, were subjected to “severe physical assault” by the prison warders on October 29, a day after surrendering.
She alleged that all the 17 escaped prisoners were assaulted by warders — Lakshmanan, Karthik and Arun, who came from Madurai. She prayed for the court to order a judicial inquiry into the assault on the prisoners as the inquiry conducted by the prison department authorities may not result in rendering justice to the affected persons.
