Full compensation amount paid to Veerappan hunt victims: TN govt

CHENNAI: Accepting the report filed by the District Collectors of Salem and Erode stating that the pending compensation amount of Rs 2.57 crore has been disbursed to those affected during the Veerappan manhunt by the Special Task Force (STF), the Madras High Court closed a case.

The Tamil Nadu–Karnataka Special Task Force that was hunting for the dreaded forest brigand Veerappan committed human rights violations, including sexual assault of tribal women under the guise of inquiry, and torture of men in the hill villages. Complaints in this regard were filed before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

After investigating the complaints, the NHRC ordered the Tamil Nadu government to pay Rs 5 crore as compensation to the victims. Following this order, the government paid Rs 2.40 crore to 38 affected persons, after which the NHRC directed the government to pay the remaining amount of Rs 2.59 crore.

Challenging this, the State Chief Secretary filed a petition in the High Court. During the earlier hearing, the High Court had ordered the State to disburse the pending amount and submit a report within four weeks.

When the matter came up before the bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, the government informed the court that, in compliance with last month's order, a Government Order had been issued on November 26, releasing Rs 2.59 crore as compensation. Based on this, compensation had been paid to 37 persons, except one Ellammal of Salem, who passed away last July and has no legal heirs. Hence, her share could not be disbursed.

Accepting the report filed by the Collectors of Salem and Erode, the judges closed the case filed by the State government.