Tamil Nadu Police Custody Deaths: Figures of Authority Seem to Have Connived and Colluded in This Case

The brutal torture of the father and son is inexcusable, unpardonable and unjustifiable. I think the matter should have been dealt with at the local level. Supervisory authorities should have immediately registered a case under section 304 of IPC. I am surprised that no such action has been taken from the state police headquarters so far. Taking timely action would have gone a long way in defusing the situation.

Also, let us not forget the role of the magistrate in this matter. He was supposed to personally see the father and the son when they were produced before him by the police. Was he blind? Did he not see them in such a brutalised condition? Why was no medical examination ordered when these people were sent to jail? It seems that at every step and every level various figures of authority have connived and colluded.

I was really surprised to learn that the Madras High Court had to intervene in the matter and now it looks like the CBI could be stepping in. If this matter was dealt with by senior police officers sternly and timely, the situation would not have come to this.

The honorable Supreme Court had ordered setting up of accountability mechanisms to monitor exactly this type of human rights violations. Such accountability mechanisms were to be set up on the state level, to be headed by a former high court justice, and at the district level, to be headed by a former sessions judge. They would hear cases of serious misconduct by the police. Such systemic reforms were put in place but 14 years later the general assessment is that in places where such mechanisms have been put in place their powers have been diluted or curtailed to a great extent.

I think the CBI should have no problem in fixing the situation. I’m sure there will be no question of it coming under any political pressure. To the questions of a court-monitored probe in the matter, such considerations would come in when trust has been lost from the agency given responsibility to investigate the case. I have faith in the CBI working on this case and bringing the guilty to book very soon.

[Prakash Singh is a retired IPS officer, former DGP of Uttar Pradesh and Assam, and former DG (BSF). Views expressed are personal.]

(As told to Suhas Munshi)