A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court Bench here seeking compensation for 36 fishermen families whose houses were ransacked allegedly by people owing allegiance to the priest of a Roman Catholic Church at Ramanthurai in Kanniyakumari district on December 18.
When the matter came up before a Division Bench of Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan on Wednesday, they ordered notice to the Home Secretary, Kanniyakumari Collector, Superintendent of Police and the priest, Anto Vinoth Kumar. S. Thason, one of the victims of the alleged incident, had filed the PIL petition.
According to the petitioner, a dispute arose between the priest and the fishermen since he was reportedly biased in favour of one section of people in the locality and imposed various regulations with respect to using the beach for launching their boats, allotting shops in the fish market and even utilising the space in the cemetery.
Pointing out that the dispute led to filing of cases and counter cases against both sides, the petitioner alleged that the houses of the 36 fishermen families were ransacked in December last. He sought for a direction to the government to assess the damages caused and pay adequate compensation to the victim families.
