A writ petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the police firing that led to the death of 13 people during a violent protest demanding the closure of Vedanta-owned Sterlite copper smelting plant in Thoothukudi district.
Court sources said that a Division Bench of Justices T. Ravindran and P. Velmurugan would be holding a special sitting on Friday to hear the case following a written request made by petitioner A.P. Suryaprakasam, a 65-year-old advocate, to Chief Justice Indira Banerjee praying for an urgent hearing in view of the serious issue. Earlier, in the day, the advocate attempted to move the case before Justice V. Bhavani Subbaroyan.
However, the judge refused to entertain the case since the prayer was in the nature of a public interest litigation petition which could be heard only by a Division Bench and not a single judge of the court.
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Thereafter, he made a representation to the Chief Justice with a plea to constitute a special bench for an urgent hearing since there was every possibility of the local police destroying the evidence.
Treatment needed
The petitioners also stated that hundreds of people who suffered injuries in the violence required appropriate medical treatment. Further, he complained about the fundamental right of the citizens to communicate with each other and access information online having been denied by the State government by imposing curbs on Internet services in Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts ever since violence broke out during the protest on Tuesday.
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