Dalit youth’s family demands action against SI for abetment of suicide

The deceased, Sathiyamurthy, and his parents Asaithambi and Saraswathy, were employed at a garment unit in Tirupur. In a petition submitted to the DGP by Chelladurai (52), uncle of the deceased, it was stated that Sathiyamurthy and his parents had gone to their native village on July 29 for Kaliamman temple festival.

Around 7 am on August 1, a police constable from the Varusanadu police station dragged Sathiyamurthy to the police station alleging that he stole petrol from one Duraipandian. It is stated that he was verbally abused by the constable. When his family members asked the policeman about this, they were also abused.

When Chelladurai was informed about the incident, he immediately went to the police station but was informed that SSI Ramapandian would come only in the evening. When he went there again in the evening along with his relative Sakthivel, Sathiyamurthy was brutally beaten in front of them.

The complainant, Duraipandian, was also present at the station when Sathiyamurthy was beaten. Reportedly, Duraipandian also verbally abused Sathiyamurthy and his family by calling them thieves. Though Sathiyamurthy was let off later that evening, he was asked to report at the station the next morning.

“When we asked Sathiyamurthy about what happened at the station, he said that he and his family were verbally abused. Though we tried to tell him that we can file a complaint with the Superintendent of Police, he committed suicide the next day,” his uncle said.

Chelladurai demanded that SSI Ramapandian should be held responsible for the suicide and a case should be booked under Section 306 of IPC (abetment of suicide) and also under section 3(2) (va) of Scheduled Castes/Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act of 2015 to provide justice to the family.

A Kathir, Executive Director of Evidence, an NGO based in Madurai, visited the family on Saturday and demanded the government to conduct post-mortem examination again in front of a team of experts, guided by the Human Rights Commission. He alleged that the autopsy was done without obtaining permission from the victim’s family.

Kathir added that a case would be filed in the Madurai bench of the High Court on Monday seeking post-mortem examination and CBI inquiry into the case, and a case against the SSI.