Death due to custodial torture: Three Chennai cops sentenced to life
The incident happened in March 2009. In the intervening 16 years till the verdict was given, two other head constables, who were included as accused in the case, died
CHENNAI: In a rare instance, three retired police personnel – a sub-inspector and two head constables – then attached to Kotturpuram police station were found guilty of assaulting a man while in custody, leading to his death within hours of him being sent from the police station, were sentenced to life imprisonment by a city court on Tuesday.
The incident happened in March 2009. In the intervening 16 years till the verdict was given, two other head constables, who were included as accused in the case, died.
According to the prosecution, the victim, R Palani (32), was taken to the police station based on a public nuisance complaint on March 12 evening. When the officials tried to obtain a drunkenness certificate, he refused to cooperate. Angry over this, the officials brutally assaulted Palani, before allowing his father to take him home around 11.45 pm. Within hours, Palani had died in his home.
The sub-divisional magistrate who conducted an inquiry held that Palani died at about 3 am on March 13, 2009, due to the "shock, pain, and sufferings that arose out of the brutal assault by the police personnel" at Kotturpuram station.
When Additional sessions judge V Pandiaraj held that P Arumugam (then SI), and head constables M Manoharan and B N Harihara Subramanian were guilty, their counsel sought leniency, noting that they were aged more than 60 now and have health ailments and age-related discomforts.
But the judge said no leniency could be shown to the accused, considering the brutal assault using lathis by as many as five officials against a single, innocent man.
"All three accused in this case are not illiterate persons. They worked as police personnel since 2008, 2004, and 2000, respectively. Furthermore, they carried on their duty in law and order. They know that they cannot take the law into their hands and break the same by exceeding their limit. Here in this case, a poor, innocent man aged 36 years was brutally assaulted to death," the judge said.
The court sentenced them to life imprisonment and also directed them to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 each