Tamil Nadu: People’s Watch questions SHRC inaction over eight deaths

MADURAI: Alleging that eight people had died in cases involving police custody or prison during the first 100 days of the TVK government, People’s Watch has questioned why the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) did not take suo motu cognisance of the recent cases.

In a letter sent to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay and all members of the Legislative Assembly, Henry Tiphagne asked why the SHRC hesitated to monitor and act on the excessive use of force by police in various incidents.

Moreover, two member posts in the SHRC remain vacant, while the post of Chairperson of the State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is also vacant, he pointed out.

The organisation also recalled that Vijay, before becoming Chief Minister, had strongly spoken out against custodial deaths and police violence. And he had promised that such incidents would not occur if he came to power.

The recent verdicts in the Sathankulam custodial death case and the Madurai SS Colony custodial death case resulted in the conviction of 13 persons, including two Inspectors and two Sub-Inspectors. Yet, the “illegal custodial torture approach” of the Tamil Nadu police remained “appalling and shocking to our conscience,” Henry Tiphagne pointed out.

Hence, the government must announce in the Assembly that Tamil Nadu would be turned into a “state free of torture”, he said, adding that the issue should become a subject of debate in the Assembly, with emphasis on the need for a law against custodial torture in the State

Henry Tiphagne also urged the government to rectify past failures, including the previous government’s handling of the criminal cases against police personnel in the Sterlite firing incident. He called for the cases to be withdrawn from the CBI and entrusted to an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT), and for departmental action against officials to be completed in accordance with the recommendations of the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission report.