The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on Thursday recommended the Tamil Nadu government to pay a compensation of ₹50,000 to a woman from Chennai and held that the Inspector of Police Suriyalingam, formerly attached to Ashok Nagar Police Station, had violated the human rights of the complainant.
SHRC member V. Kannadasan also recommended the State government to recover ₹50,000 from the respondent Inspector as per rules. The Commission wanted the State government to initiate disciplinary action against him.
The complainant, A. Kasthuri, submitted that she was residing in her house in West Mambalam with her husband for over 44 years. On March 10, a woman, Rukmani, claiming to have relationship with the complainant’s husband trespassed into her house with the help of the Inspector, who was then attached to the Ashok Nagar Police Station.
When Kasthuri attempted to prefer a complaint in Ashok Nagar Police Station the next day, the Inspector threatened her to pay him a bribe of ₹50 lakh, or part with her property to the rowdy elements, she alleged. When she gave a complaint to the Chief Minister’s Cell on March 19, 2018, the Inspector threatened her to withdraw her complaint. She eventually approached the SHRC with the complaint.
During the hearing, the Inspector denied the allegations and said the complainant’s husband supressed the fact that he had married Rukmani in 1995 and had two children. There was enmity between Rukmani and the complainant about the property and various cases were pending before the court. The Inspector submitted that he had acted in accordance with law and had not violated human rights.
After rounds of cross examination of witnesses and hearing arguments from both sides, the SHRC underlined the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Lalitha Kumari case and said: “If the Station House Officer received a complaint and the same reveals prima facie case then the Station House Officer should register a case and investigate the same. If there is suspicion in the complaint, it should be treated as CSR and proper enquiry be conducted and it should be disposed of within seven days.”
Pointing out that the Inspector had not taken any action in this matter, the Commission said this was a dereliction of duty. “When the police themselves become law breakers, common man would be in a state of lawlessness. Police force is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and to extend helping hands to the people. Law enforcing agency must first abide by the law,” the Commission said.
