Tamil Nadu youth dies from wounds inflicted during custody; cops booked

In yet another case of alleged police excess, a 25-year-old auto-rickshaw driver from Tenkasi district in Tamil Nadu, who was “beaten up mercilessly” by two policemen during “interrogation” in a land dispute a month ago, has succumbed to his injuries.

N Kumaresan from V.K. Pudur town in the district, who was receiving treatment at a Government Hospital in Tirunelveli since June 13, died on Saturday night.

Narrating his son’s ordeal, Kumaresan’s father Navaneethakrishnan said his son was heavily assaulted by two policemen – sub-inspector Chandrashekar and constable Kumar – including in his private parts when he was summoned to the local police station on May 10.

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After outrage and protest by the locals, the two policemen have now been booked, hours after Kumaresan breathed his last. According to an FIR registered, the duo has been booked under Section 174(3) of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The section deals with doubt regarding the cause of death.

The incident has come to light even as the dust over the death of a father and his son in police custody in Sathankulam in Thoothukudi district has not settled as yet.

“My son never told me about the torture he underwent at the police station for a month because the policemen had threatened him that they would book him under the stringent Goondas Act if he spoke about the incident to anyone. I got an inkling only on June 10 when he vomited blood and complained of breathlessness,” Navaneethakrishnan told DH.

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The father then took Kumaresan to a local hospital on June 10 from where he was shifted to a Government Hospital in Tirunelveli on June 13. It is only while lying on the hospital bed, Navaneethakrishnan said, his son narrated his ordeal to the doctor who suspected that the injuries inflicted are him were not normal and asked him to “tell the truth.”

“I was shell-shocked to hear what my son went through at the police station. He told the doctor that the sub-inspector made him sit on the floor and stamped him on his chest and his private parts at the same time. Kumaresan was then asked to sit straight after which the constable punched on his back heavily,” Navaneethakrishnan added.

The father further added that his son told the doctor that he “kept quiet” as the two policemen threatened him of slapping “stringent laws” against him if he told about their excesses to anyone, including his father.

As Kumaresan’s health condition worsened, the 25-year-old was shifted to the ICU of the hospital on June 17, where he breathed his last 10 days later on June 27.

Navaneethakrishnan said he and his son were first summoned to the police station on May 8 over the land dispute when the sub-inspector slapped Kumaresan and threatened him of “severe action” if he mustered the courage to question him. Two days later, his son was again summoned, when the excesses took place.

“We want justice for my son’s death. Policemen think they have the right to attack and assault anyone. This incident is similar to the one that took place in Sathankulam. There is no difference. My son died only due to injuries inflicted upon him by the policemen,” Navaneethakrishnan said.