SHRC recommends ₹8 lakh in compensation to woman in a 2010 case of police excesses in Dindigul district

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) of Tamil Nadu on Monday recommended ₹8 lakh in compensation to a woman, the daughter of a retired sub-inspector of police, in a 2010 case of police excesses in a village in Dindigul district.

In his order, SHRC member V. Kannadasan recommended that the State government pay ₹8 lakh to complainant S. Sivakami of Mottanampatti in Nilakottai taluk. He also recommended that ₹4 lakh be recovered from four policemen involved in the incident.

Ms. Sivakami had alleged in a telegram sent on April 5, 2010, that the police came to her village the previous night, took her husband  Senthilkumar to the Vadamadurai  police station, and attacked him. He died subsequently. She had also prayed for action against the policemen involved. She sent a detailed complaint to the Commission on April 21 that year.

After considering the complaint, the counter-statement from the respondents, and the inquiry report from the Commission’s investigation wing, the Commission concluded that certain respondents had detained Senthilkumar in the police station, tortured him, and assaulted him brutally.

Three of the respondents had been convicted and sentenced by the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Dindigul, in 2021. The complainant did not press charges against two more respondents. But the Commission concluded that four respondents had violated the human rights of the complainant. They were the then SSIs, A. Perumal and A.P. Subramanian; and the then head constables, M. Karuppaiah and S. Singarayar. All of them were attached to the Vadamadurai police station.