SHRC seeks report over Thirumurugan Gandhi’s arrest

Complainant had alleged that SC guidelines were not followed

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on Tuesday sought a detailed report from the Chennai Police Commissioner on a complaint alleging that the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court were not followed by the police while arresting activist Thirumurugan Gandhi of the May 17 Movement.

SHRC member D. Jayachandran issued the notice on a complaint filed by activist Henri Tiphagne and sought a detailed report in three weeks. He sought to know whether Mr. Gandhi's arrest and preventive detention constituted a violation of international law on the grounds of discrimination based on political or other views.

The complaint stated that Mr. Gandhi, who landed in Bengaluru after attending a UN session in Geneva, was arrested on August 9, based on a look out notice issued by the Tamil Nadu police. A court in Chennai refused to grant the police his custody on the grounds that the charges against him were not made out

prima facie . The activist was released and arrested again in another case.

“It is to be seriously noted that no procedure for arrest, including the NHRC guidelines on arrest, the Supreme Court’s guidelines in the case of

D.K. Basu vs. State of West Bengal or the procedures relating to arrest under the Code of Criminal Procedure were followed by the police,” Mr. Tiphagne said.

Referring to similar incidents across the State, Mr. Tiphagne contended that they demonstrated the “indiscriminate prejudice” and bias against demonstrators because of their political or other views and their desire to exercise their civil and political rights.