SHRC awards Rs 1 lakh compensation to custodial torture victim; cops to pay for offence | Chennai News – The Times of India

Cleared – maniChennai: The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has ordered Rs 1 lakh compensation to a victim of custodial torture and directed the state govt to recover Rs 50,000 each from the inspector and sub-inspector responsible for the incident.The victim, E Bharanitharan, received the relief nearly nine years after he was subjected to cruelty at Pallikonda police station in 2016. An engineering graduate, Bharanitharan, in his complaint, stated that he was taken to the police station by sub-inspector Kavitha in connection with a complaint of a verbal quarrel and was brutally attacked after his clothes were removed.Inspector Murugan, who later joined, stripped Bharanitharan naked and attacked him, falsely implicating him in a kidnap case. He was made to suffer in the police station overnight without food and without being allowed to use toilet. Bharanitharan was remanded in both cases.However, counsel for the inspector and the sub-inspector denied the allegations levelled by Bharanitharan. During cross-examination, sub-inspector Kavitha admitted to causing hurt to the victim, while the inspector refused to appear before the commission for examination and cross-examination.Another police constable, K Tamilazhagan, posted in Pallikonda, also admitted that he was present when the victim was assaulted in the police station.SHRC member V Kannadasan, after recording the oral and documentary submissions, held that the actions of the police inspector and sub-inspector amounted to a violation of the human rights of the complainant. The officers concerned failed to prove their innocence, as the inspector did not even come forward to enter the witness box and subject himself to cross-examination to disprove the allegations levelled against him in the complaint.Apart from awarding Rs 1 lakh compensation to the victim, the commission has recommended disciplinary action against the two officers. MSID:: 120963438 413 |