Chennai\" Four cops to pay Rs 2 lakh for harassing family 10 yrs ago
Chennai: The State Human Rights Commission has directed four police personnel to pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to an octogenarian for harassing his family members 10 years ago.
The cops locked his house and forced him to stay in his relative house in 2007.
In the petition, T. Janakiraman, 73, of Pensioners Lane, New Farhan's Road, Chennai, submitted that on April 14, 2007, his neighbour Mahesh in a fully drunken state, requested his son-in-law to come to nearby Tasmac shop as someone had quarrelled with him. However, his son-in-law avoided him and refused to accompany him. Mahesh slipped and fell on the ground, resulting in his death.
Later, Murugesan and Prakash, inspectors, Vijayakumar and Subramani, SIs of Otteri police station, visited his residence and forcibly removed him and his mother-in-law from their dwelling house and locked the house. They stayed at his relative’s house at Vyasarpadi.
He visited the police station frequently requesting for the keys. However, the police refused to give him. After repeated requests, on May 17, 2007, he opened the house in the presence of police.
The house was ransacked and bureaus were broken open. The household
articles were found scattered all over the place and many were broken. Many articles were stolen. As a result, he found it difficult to make arrangement for the marriage of his daughter. The cops threatened him not to lodge a complaint.
In his reply, Murugesan denied the allegations that his son-in-law murdered Mahesh. Other cops also stated that the petitioner was making a false allegation.
On completion of the trial, the member, SHRC, Dr A. Chittaranjan Mohandoss, held that the cops violated the human rights of the petitioners and others. If inspector Murugesan had anticipated any threat to the life and property of T. Janakiraman following the death of Mahesh, he should have posted
adequate protection to the senior citizen Janakiraman, rather than deporting him to a different place. The commission directed Murugesan and Prakash, Vijayakumar and Subramani jointly to pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh.