Chennai: Taking suo moto cognisance of an article appearing in Tuesday’s edition of Deccan Chronicle, the State Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the DIG, Vellore Range, regarding the thrashing of a couple and their son by three policemen in Tiruvannamalai district.
In a notice sent to Deputy Inspector General, Vellore Range, the SHRC asked him to file a detailed report within six weeks of the incident that took place on Monday in Chengam in Tiruvannamalai district. In a shocking incident, a family of three - father, mother and son - who had gone to a shop, were brutally beaten up by three lathi-wielding policemen on Monday.
In the notice, the SHRC said the matter would be listed for further consideration before it after six weeks. "You are required to submit the report by post without fail. In the event of any default, the Commission may proceed to take such action as it deems fit and proper," the notice said.
The shocking incident took place in a town near Chengam when the husband and wife began arguing over a personal issue in which the policemen on duty at the bazaar intervened on their own and demanded the reason for their altercation. Immediately, the policemen started beating the trio and the trashing continued for a while.
As the airing of the video of the incident led to a public outrage, Tiruvannamalai SP R Ponni transferred the three policemen — Namalvaar, Murugan and Vijayakumar — to Armed Reserve (AR) at Vellore and ordered a departmental inquiry. Condemning the incident, human rights activists have said only stricter punishments to policemen would ensure that such incidents do not recur.
