The Madras High Court on September 22 wanted to know whether the Tamil Nadu government had received a copy of a report submitted by the National Human Rights Commission’s investigation division on the May 22, 2018 police firing, in which 13 anti-Sterlite protesters were killed in Thoothukudi.
A Division Bench of Justices J. Nisha Banu and N. Mala asked Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram to obtain instructions from the government by September 27, besides finding out the further action taken by the State if it had already received the report that had been filed in a sealed cover before the court.
After opening the sealed cover and perusing the report, the judges directed the High Court Registry to issue a copy to the A-G too. The judges felt that the report of the investigation division need not have remained in a sealed cover since 2021 when activist Henri Tiphagne had filed a writ petition.
