The State Human Rights Commission on Monday adjourned to January 7 the hearing into the case pertaining to the allegation of harassment by Canada-based research scholar Lois Sofia, in a flight at the Thoothukudi airport in 2018.
State Human Rights Commission member D. Jayachandran, said the Commission had already directed the police to cross-examine the petitioner, A.A. Samy, father of Sofia.
According to the complaint, when Ms. Sofia was travelling by a Chennai–Thoothukudi flight on September 3, 2018, she reportedly raised slogans against the BJP government on seeing then BJP State president of Tamil Nadu Tamilisai Soundararajan, a co-passenger.
On landing at the Thoothukudi airport, Ms. Sofia was picked up by the Pudukottai police based on a complaint from Dr. Tamilisai.
After being detained in the Thoothukudi airport for a few hours along with her parents, the research student was taken to the Pudukottai police station for interrogation.
Accusing the police of harassing his daughter, Ms. Sofia’s father A.A. Samy, a physician by profession, filed a complaint with the SHRC, which is hearing the human rights violation accusations against the police.
Officer’s plea rejected
After Dr. Samy submitted his affidavit in the previous sitting of the SHRC here, the police officials were directed to file their affidavits on December 23. The SHRC also dismissed the police officers’ petition praying for discharging them from the case.
When the case came up for hearing on Monday, five police officers did not appear before the SHRC.
Instead, the advocates appearing for them informed that the police officers had approached the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court against the dismissal of their discharge petition.
