CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has set aside an order issued by the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission directing disciplinary action against police officers for the arrest of research scholar Lois Sofia, who had allegedly raised slogans criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the presence of former Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan on a flight at Thoothukudi Airport.
According to the case records, in 2018, when Tamilisai Soundararajan was serving as the State president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, she was travelling on a flight to Thoothukudi. During the journey, fellow passenger and research scholar Lois Sofia had called the BJP government "fascist."
Subsequently, Tamilisai Soundararajan lodged a complaint with the airport authorities. Based on the complaint, the police of Pudukottai Police Station, Thoothukudi district registered a case and arrested Sofia. She was later released on bail.
Alleging violation of human rights by the police, Sofia's father, AA Samy, filed a petition before the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission. Upon inquiry, the Commission held that the arrest amounted to a violation of Sofia's human rights and directed the authorities to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the police officials.
It also ordered payment of compensation of Rs 2 lakh to Sofia and directed that the amount be recovered from the concerned police personnel.
Challenging this order, police officials R Thirumalai and V Ponramu filed petitions before the Madras High Court in March 2022.
A Division Bench comprising Justices G. Jayachandran and Shameem Ahmed observed that the police officials, who are supposed to maintain law and order, while registering the First Information Report, had taken spot decisions, which cannot be faulted.
The Bench further held that the Human Rights Commission had exceeded its jurisdiction by conducting a parallel inquiry and arriving at a premature conclusion before the completion of the criminal investigation.
"The Human Rights Commission had conducted a parallel trial. The finding rendered by the Human Rights Commission regarding the merits of the complaint is illegal.
Therefore, we hold that the impugned order passed by the Tamil Nadu Human Rights Commission directing payment of Rs 2 lakh compensation to Sofia and the initiation of disciplinary action against the police officials is liable to be quashed, " the Bench said, closing the writ petitions.