Jeyaraj, 59, and her son Beniks, 31, were arrested for keeping their store open
Hyderabad:
Nine police officers have been named in a charge sheet filed by the IWC in a case of alleged death in custody in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. In the case that was widely convicted of alleged police brutality, Jeyaraj and his son Beniks were allegedly tortured by the Sattankulam police on the night of June 19, before dying in hospital.
Jeyaraj, 59, and her son Beniks, 31, were arrested on June 19 for keeping their mobile phone store open 15 minutes beyond the allowed hours. Police claimed the two had fought, showered with verbal abuse and rolled down the street while resisting arrest.
The two men were reportedly subjected to brutal torture in police custody. His family claimed that they had serious internal and external injuries.
After national outrage and demands for action against the police officers involved, Chief Minister E Palaniswami handed the case over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The incident sparked a furor in Tamil Nadu and snowballed into a major political dispute, which involved calls for law enforcement reform. The Tamil Nadu opposition, DMK, targeted the AIADMK government, accusing it of allowing policemen to take “the law into their own hands.”
Actor and politician Kamal Haasan lashed out at Palaniswami and his government, calling them “main defendants” in the killings.
A few years ago, Tuticorin police came under scrutiny for shots that killed 13 anti-Sterlite protesters.
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