Custodial deaths on the rise? Another political debate emerges in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Even before the political blame game behind the Thanjavur temple car electrocution deaths is yet to be settled between the Tamil Nadu political parties, custodial deaths have emerged as the new political debate in the Dravidian heartland. The second custodial death - in less then 10 days in the State - related to Thangamani of Tiruvannamalai is attracting lot of attention, at a time when the Assembly session is on and it had created tough times for the ruling DMK in the house with the opposition AIADMK and BJP seeking justice for the victims of custodial deaths.

On Friday, Thangamani’s death in custody created a platform for the Opposition parties to launch a tirade against the DMK. While the AIADMK leaders Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam have reacted to the issue in the Assembly and through statements, the IT wings of the Opposition parties have also started rallying against the state police and the DMK government.

Joining the chorus, BJP and Naam Thamizhar Katchi functionaries have started tweeting and sharing social media content seeking justice for Vignesh and Thangamani.

“Four lockup deaths in the past few months. Those activists during Jeyaraj and Bennicks issue is nowhere to be seen so are the Kollywood friends who cried for justice,” tweeted BJP functionary S G Surya.

“Continuing lockup murders... will human rights commission take cognisance and act ?” tweeted AIADMK spokesperson and IT wing functionary Kovai Sathiyan. “One more custodial death. Are we living in a police state,” tweeted Janu Bhaskar, a diehard fan of LTTE leader Prabhakaran.

“2nd custodial death in short period. BJP4Tamil Nadu IT wing should go bonkers. DMK kept us in the backfoot by trending one thing or other against us constantly. It's payback time” tweeted BJP supporter Arvinth tagging BJP leaders Nirmal Kumar and K Annamalai.