The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the CB-CID to file the final report in the case pertaining to the death of a 31-year-old Scheduled Caste man, Dinesh Kumar, as expeditiously as possible.
It is said that Dinesh Kumar, a habitual offender, who reportedly escaped from Madurai City Police custody, died after jumping into a canal at Vandiyur in the city in October 2025. However, the kin of the man alleged that he was tortured and killed in custody at Anna Nagar police station.
The court was hearing the public interest litigation petitions filed by V. Muthulakshmi, mother of Dinesh Kumar, and advocate C. Selvakumar, who said the police personnel attached to Anna Nagar police station had picked up Dinesh Kumar from his house at Yagappa Nagar for an inquiry.
Later, Ms. Muthulakshmi was summoned to the police station and told that her son had escaped from police custody and fell into a canal, resulting in his death.
The petitioners said the statement was false and fabricated. Dinesh Kumar was subjected to brutal custodial torture and beaten to death by the police personnel. The act of the police personnel was a gross human rights violation, and amounted to custodial murder. The police personnel should be punished for murder and also under the relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
A Division Bench of Justices G. Jayachandran and K. K. Ramakrishnan observed that since the investigation was pending, the court was not inclined to make any observations on the merits of the case. It was open to the Investigating Officer to examine and investigate all angles.
The Investigating Officer should also take note of whether any other offence either under the BNS Act or any Special Act was attracted and file a final report as expeditiously as possible, the court directed and disposed of the petitions.
