Police officers involved in Thoothukudi firing incident should be prosecuted for murder
While hearing a plea seeking to reopen a case related to police firing during the Thoothukudi Sterlite protests in which 13 people lost their lives, the Madras High Court today orally remarked that the police officers responsible for the firing should be prosecuted for the offence of murder.
Division Bench of Justice SS Sundar and Justice N Senthilkumar lamented that even after all these years, the police officials have not shown any remorse.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Executive Director of People’s Watch, Henry Tiphagne, seeking directions to the NHRC to reopen the case of killing unarmed protestors. Tiphagne had challenged the NHRC’s closure of the suo moto investigation into the matter.
The court made the observations when Senior Advocate Somasundaram appearing for the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Thoothuhkudi interfered with the submission of the petitioner and argued that the petition was not maintainable as the National Human Rights Commission could not re-open the case.
Tiphagne was appraising the court on the history of the case and that the issue has been pending before the court since 2021. Tiphagne submitted that while he had filed a petition way back in 2021, the respondents were coming slowly in batches.