Palaniswami slams DMK regime for excessive custodial torture charges

CHENNAI: Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami charged that custodial torture and extra-judicial killings by the State police are on the rise under the present DMK regime and it is ‘unacceptable’ and strongly condemnable.

Referring to DT Next report on Wednesday alleging custodial torture of persons arrested in connection with the murder of a retired police inspector Kasthuri, Edapaddi Palaniswami said that the police should stick to the procedure and carry out investigation by producing the perpetrators before the court to get punishment as per the law of the land.

The media report stated that two accused, including a senior MDMK functionary, who were arrested in connection with the murder of a retired woman police inspector in Kancheepuram last month, were allegedly subjected to custodial torture, which has left one of them battling for his life.

The State Human Rights Commission initiated inquiries into the alleged torture.

“The police department should also refrain from donning the role of the judiciary and punish the persons arrested in connection with any crime,” Palaniswami said in his social media post.

The recent trend is disturbing as the police are brutally attacking the suspects and gunning down the suspects in encounters under the guise of self-defence. Such practice prevails in the present dispensation and it is condemnable, he said without referring to the recent encounters of three history sheeters in and around Chennai city.

In another incident, history sheeter, P Manikandan alias CD Mani who was arrested by the City police on Sunday broke his leg after a fall when he allegedly attempted to escape after he was apprehended. Since he broke his leg in his escape bid, police moved him to the Government Stanley Hospital where he is being treated. Manikandan was an associate of Kakathope Balaji who was shot and killed by the police on Wednesday.