The State Human Rights Commission on Thursday recommended the prosecution for culpable homicide, apart from disciplinary action against four Virudhunagar policemen involved in a 2009 fake encounter case. Further, the commission recommended the State to pay a compensation of ₹10 lakh to the wife of the deceased.
Hearing the complaint filed by the wife of the deceased history sheeter Sundaramurthy, the SHRC also recommended a magisterial inquiry into the case. It is said that after producing the deceased before the Judicial Magistrate, Sivakasi and a subsequent medical check-up, the policemen had decided to encounter him.
The policemen claimed that the deceased had tried to escape custody and posed a threat to them. Therefore, he was shot in self-defence. However, the Commission said that it was of the considered opinion that the policemen, the then Inspector of Police Radhakrishnan and then Police Constables Kamaraj, Siva and Karunakaran, had determined to kill him in the pretext of self- defence and shot him.
As per the National Human Rights Commission guidelines, when the police officers of the same police station were party to an encounter, the investigation into it should be taken over by some other investigating agency, like the State CBCID. The investigation was not handed over to the State CBCID.
The SHRC, taking this into account, recommended disciplinary inquiry against the Virudhunagar CBCID Inspector who investigated the case. Further, the SHRC recommended take over of the investigation into the encounter case by the State CBCID and that a report be filed within six months.
