Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday issued notices to the Tamil Nadu authorities over the alleged police excesses on jallikattu protesters.
Protests broke out in Tamil Nadu demanding that the bull-taming sport, banned by the Supreme Court in 2014, be allowed to take place across the State. The Tamil Nadu government on Monday passed the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the Assembly, allowing jallikattu.
While evicting protesters from the Marina Beach in Chennai, the police allegedly beat them up and arrested them. According to media reports, the police “damaged private property in order to disperse a large number of people gathered at landmark places in Chennai,” the NHRC said in a statement.
‘Unprovoked action’
The commission observed that the reports indicated “unprovoked police action” that amounted to a violation of human rights. It said the protesters at the beach had not exceeded their fundamental right. “The visuals on television news channels showed that police set on fire huts, autos, motorcycles, vegetable shops on the streets and other properties on internal streets in Chennai,” the NHRC said.
Taking “a serious view of the unprovoked police excesses,” the NHRC issued notices to the Chief Secretary, the DGP and the Chennai Police Commissioner, asking for reports in two weeks.
