The First Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday referred to the Second Bench a public interest litigation petition seeking a direction to the top authorities to place the District Collector and the Superintendent of Police, Ramanathapuram, under suspension. The action has been sought with a view to ensuring that members of the scheduled castes live in peace and appear before the Commission of Inquiry appointed to go into the police firing at Paramakudi on September 11, the petitioner said.
In his petition, P. Pugalenthi, an advocate, said he learnt from print and visual media that what the police did to the people who had gathered at Paramakudi on September 11 was nothing short of violation of human rights. He had seen video footage which showed the “barbarity of police opening fire,” which resulted in six deaths. He visited Paramakudi on September 17 and 18 and interviewed some of the family members of victims of firing and the injured.
The petitioner said it was unfortunate that the local police officials after having permitted several Dalit organisations to pay their respects thought it fit to revoke the permission granted to John Pandian's organisation and detained him. They were responsible for the unrest among SC people.
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The State also failed to maintain law and order at Paramakudi.