Compensate violence victims kin: Bench

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ordered the State government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of Irulaiya, a 26-year-old mason who was killed in 2009 when violence broke out after the death of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.On 20 May, 2009, Irulaiya was onboard a STC bus when the VCK cadre hurled petrol bombs at it.  Three days later, he died. Observing that the transport corporation was bound to ensure the safety of its passengers, Justice K K Sasidharan in his order said that the State cannot wash its hands of the incident by pleading that the death occurred on account of the unlawful and barbaric acts of certain individuals belonging to a political party. Appearing for the State, M Alagudevan, Special Government Pleader, contended that the State was not responsible for the incident and that it was not liable to pay compensation. “The intelligence wing of the State police failed to unearth the conspiracy hatched by the accused. The jurisdictional police equally failed in their duty,” Justice Sasidharan said in his order and noted that the State was therefore liable to pay compensation on account of the negligence and inaction of its servants. Also, it was the owner of the vehicle.However, the judge gave the State the liberty to claim the compensation from the accused after getting orders  from the sessions judge in Sivaganga, before whom the trial is pending. The parents of the deceased cannot be made to wait for concluding the case. It is open to the State to recover the amount from the accused, after getting orders from the learned sessions judge”, said the judge. The trial is pending against three VCK cadre -- Siruthai Selvam  alias Selvakumar, Jeyaraj and Kani .Originally, Irulaiya’s parents moved the HC contending that their son’s death was caused by negligence of the police department, which was entrusted with the duty of maintaining the law and order situation. Therefore, they sought a compensation of `21 lakh from the State for the death of Irulaiya.