HC comes down heavily on cops

The Madras High Court on Friday observed that merciless assault and custodial deaths of the accused in the police custody show the deplorable state of mind of the policemen.

While heading the first bench of the Madras High Court along with Justice N Mala, Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari made this observation. The judge observed this on hearing petitions filed by AG Mouriya IPS (retired), and Saravanan Dhakshinamoorthy seeking direction from the court to the Tamil Nadu government to reconstitute the state police complaints authority in tune with the Supreme Court’s order.

When the matter was taken up, the Chief Justice noted that he received a letter when a youth named Vignesh, a horseman, died in police custody. “The person who wrote the letter wanted the HC to initiate suo-motu cognizance in the custodial death of the Vignesh. However, I refrain from taking suo-motu cognizance since the Chief Minister made an announcement in the state assembly that FIRs have been filed against policemen for the death of Vignesh, ” CJ MN Bhandari noted.

The judge made this reference since the petitioners’ counsel submitted that there is an increasing trend of custodial death in Tamil Nadu. “About 76 custodial deaths had happened in TN in the last five years and none was punished/convicted for these murders, ” the petitioners submitted.

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