Fast-track pending custodial death cases, JAACT urges HC

MADURAI: Joint Action Against Custodial Torture – Tamil Nadu (JAACT) urged the High Court to fast-track all pending cases of custodial torture and custodial deaths and ensure that its Registrars and the Legal Services Authority periodically monitor such cases.

In the case of Ajith Kumar's custodial death, police constables were immediately arrested, and the government intervened swiftly, coupled with immediate High Court interventions and a CBI investigation ongoing now, it said.

In multiple cases of custodial torture leading to death in the state (31 cases that were circulated recently), the respective Judicial Magistrates have not completed the CrPC Sec 176(1)(a) inquiry (magisterial inquiry) in many cases, causing delays in the legal process, it noted. These delays are systemic and designed to deny justice, and the Chief Judicial Magistrates of the districts concerned should monitor the cause of delays immediately, a statement said on Saturday.

In 2023, Balveer Singh, the Ambasamudram Assistant Superintendent of Police, and his subordinates were involved in custodial torture, it noted. However, neither the ASP nor any other police personnel were arrested in any of the cases, and all are continuing in police service, it added.

In the case of Balveer Singh, an IPS officer, all the victims were sent to prison, but the truth emerged only after their release on bail, which revealed that the victims were subjected to custodial abuse for over three weeks, it said.

JAACT noted that despite the High Court’s direction in the case, the CCTV footage of the Ambasamudram police station has not yet been furnished.

The CB (CID) that investigated four cases has withheld the caste identity of two other accused, who belong to the Backward Class (BC), to avoid invoking the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act in the charge sheet, though the initial FIR was under the SC/ST (POA), it said.

The SC/ST Act, which was there in the original FIR, was removed in the charge sheet, merely because Balveer Singh belonged to the Scheduled Tribe status, though the co-accused are from the backward castes, amounting to “institutional cheating and suppression of material facts” in an investigation by the CB CID, it said.

It noted that on March 29, 2023, Chief Minister MK Stalin officially announced to the Legislative Assembly that Balveer Singh was placed under compulsory wait and then suspended.

The first hearing in the Judicial Magistrate-I, Tirunelveli, was held on December 13, 2023. So far, Balveer Singh has appeared for only 10 of the 22 hearings held, with the trial yet to begin. Despite serious allegations, he and other police personnel continue in service without suspension or accountability, it explained further, adding no compensation has been given to any of the victims to date in this case.