Madras High Court orders probe into assault on anti-liquor protesters

A Division bench of Justices S. Tamilvanan and B. Rajendran, before which a habeas corpus petition filed by V. Sulochana came up for hearing, said “When a detenue is in prison, the court is the custodian to safeguard his rights. Hence, it is construed as judicial custody. Therefore, we find it just and reasonable to make a proper inquiry.”

Accordingly, the Bench appointed S. Senthil Kumaresan, V additional judge (TADA), city civil court, Chennai, to make an enquiry, by visiting the prison and to file his report on or before August 17, the court said.

In the petition, V. Sulochana, submitted that her son V. Sarathy, was arrested and detained in prison. She wanted to meet him. However, she was not permitted. Subsequently, with the help of her advocate, she met her son. She came to know that her son had been attacked in prison and he had sustained injuries. Similarly, others arrested along with him were also assaulted and they were injured.

Petitioner's senior counsel, N.R.Elango, submitted that some students had sustained injuries. Sarathy and Selvakumar, sustained fracture and bleeding injuries. A metropolitan magistrate had recorded that Selvakumar had contended that he was beaten by G-7 police jurisdiction AC, car driver.