Thoothukudi firing: People's inquest blames cops, officials

In a five-volume report, the inquest undertaken by a 23-member team comprising retired judges, senior bureaucrats, police officers and activists came out with evidence that the district administration and the police were squarely to be blamed for the shooting, warranting a full administrative and criminal investigation into the incident. The report was presented here by Justice (Retd) Hariparanthaman, in the presence of AWD Thilak and XD Selvaraj, coordinators of the People’s Inquest Committee, former bureaucrat Christodas Gandhi, Shiv Visvanathan, advocate Geetha Ramaseshan and other eminent members.

There were several gaps in the imposition of Section 144, which was done even though the administration was aware that the rally participants wanted to march towards the Collectorate on May 22 — the 100th day of the protest — as the Collector had refused to meet the protesters during the previous 99 days. “If the district administration was serious about imposing Section 144, it would have prevented even small groups from forming in the entire city. Waiting for a crowd to gather before thinking of dispersing it was a gross error,” said the report, adding that after the imposition of Section 144, no senior administration official was present at the Collectorate.

Section 144 was imposed on May 21 at 8 pm and was not publicised in most areas of Thoothukudi and its suburbs. The team noted that the district magistrate’s order declaring Section 144 has not been made public till date, though under law, it needs to be specific and definite in terms containing material facts.

“The protesters were not hindered in their movement towards the Collectorate despite the police presence. Witnesses saw some persons wearing white shirts and khaki pants carrying stones and posing as protesters,” the report said. Accounts by police and firemen show that vehicles parked in the Collectorate compound were on fire even before the crowd trickled in, raising questions on the subsequent shooting of innocent protesters.

Questions were also raised on who authorised the firing. “The PI team observes that individual Executive Magistrates employed in the area of the clashes did not pass the orders as alleged.” An examination of FIR reports shows that they have been filed by different Deputy Tahsildars who had no jurisdiction over the area.

The residents and activists of Thoothukudi are at the receiving end of police repression to this day. In an indication of this, Justice (Retd) D Hariparanthaman, who was a part of the inquest team, said police intimidated van drivers and local residents, to stop them from coming to Chennai to participate in the release of the findings. “There should be an immediate end to the intimidation and arbitrary arrests of random people under ‘Open’ FIRs filed against numerous unnamed people. All deaths must be treated as murders at the FIR stage in line with prevalent law and investigation must proceed on these lines until evidence points otherwise,” he added.