The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) to submit a copy of the charge sheet filed against the erring police officers in the 2019 case of custodial torture and subsequent death of a 17-year-old boy involving S.S. Colony police here.
Justice J. Nisha Banu, who was hearing the petition filed by the boy’s mother who sought a CB-CID probe into the death of her son and appropriate compensation, directed the CB-CID to submit a copy of the charge sheet to the court on December 14. The complainant had alleged that her son died due to custodial torture by S.S. Colony police.
In her petition, the boy’s mother said her son was picked up for inquiry in a jewellery theft case by the police and detained in illegal custody for three days. First, the police had picked him up for inquiry and then let him off. They picked him up again after a week and detained him in illegal custody, she said.
She complained that her son was subjected to torture by the police. The boy later succumbed to his injuries at Government Rajaji Hospital. The court, which had ordered a CB-CID probe into the case, had expressed displeasure over the manner in which the investigation was handled by the local police.
Taking into account the fact that no post mortem was conducted nor a case was registered against the erring officials till the intervention of the court, the court said it would monitor the case. It also expressed its displeasure with the police, the GRH and the Juvenile Justice Board for not acting fairly in the case.
While transferring the case to the CB-CID, the court had observed that an investigating officer in the rank of an IPS officer should probe the case and the officer should not be shifted from the investigation. However, the plea by the woman for compensation has been deferred till further orders.
