The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has recommended to the Additional Chief Secretary of Home, Prohibition and Excise Department, to pay a compensation of ₹1.50 lakh to a complainant from Udayampatty in the district for the failure of three police officers to immediately register a FIR in a robbery case.
The Commission has also recommended disciplinary action against the three officials and recovery of the compensation amount from them.
According to the complainant, R.Kalaiselvan, who is employed in Gurgaon, two persons, one of whom was dressed as a woman with the faced covered, had visited his parents house in Tiruchi district on October 28,2013 asking for his father, who had gone to the grocery shop at the time. When his mother welcomed them, they had punched the woman in the face and snatched away her gold chain (mangalsutra) weighing about 50 grams.
Though his father, R. Ramaraju, along with the villagers had made a complaint soon after the incident, the police had failed to register a case immediately. The then Inspector of Police, Manchanallur, A. Natesan, R. Loganathan, then Sub Inspector of Police, and K. Subramanian, Special Sub Inspector of Police, Pulivalam, had failed to register an FIR though Mr. Loganathan had conducted enquiries at the place of occurrence the same day.
The complainant had petitioned senior district officers and also the Chief Minister’s Cell. According to him, on January 22, 2014, Mr.Subramanian had called his father and asked him to submit a fresh complaint as per a draft given by the police. The complainant claimed that in order to convince higher officials, the police had registered a case without the correct facts. He preferred a complaint with the Commission seeking action against the police. The complainant also filed a petition before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which transferred the case from the Pulivalam Police Station to the Ramji Nagar Police Station.
The Commission, after hearing the counter of the respondents, held that the acts of the respondents had caused mental agony to the complainant and his parents. Because of the respondents’ irresponsible and lethargic response, the complainant’s father was forced to run from pillar to post to seek justice. The acts of the respondents were inhumane and against law. They had violated the rights of an ordinary senior citizen, the Commission held.
The SHRC recommended that the complainant be paid the compensation within eight weeks and ₹50,000 be recovered from each of the three police officers.
