Post police promise, kin accept Usha’s body

Later, the relatives of the deceased pregnant woman Usha accepted her body and took it to her mother’s house in KK Nagar here on Thursday and the funeral is scheduled on Friday.

The protest at Ganesha roundabout in Tiruverumbur turned to be like a battlefield between the public and the police. Public gathered in large number and blocked the Tiruchy-Thanjavur National Highway. Police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd as the blockade lasted for four hours. 

The police had arrested 27 protesters including two Class XI students for allegedly damaging the vehicles by pelting stones. All of them were booked under Tamil Nadu Public Property Damage Act (TNPPD Act). Among them, 5 protesters sustained injuries in the lathicharge while around 10 police sustained injury in stone pelting. 

Meanwhile, inspector Kamaraj was taken into custody and booked under the IPC sections 304 A which is bailable and lodged in the central prison on Thursday morning. Subsequently, he has been put under suspension. In this backdrop, the relatives and the activists gathered at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital premises where the body of Usha was kept and demanded Kamaraj be booked under IPC section 302 (murder). They also sought compensation to the victim’s family from the government. 

Later, in the afternoon Usha’s husband Raja along with lawyers went to submit a petition to the judicial magistrate. But the magistrate did not accept it owing to the procedure and so he returned to the GH. Meanwhile, the daylong protest ended in the evening following the assurance from the administration of appropriate action against the police inspector. The relatives agreed to accept the body by 5.15 pm.

An expert team inspected the spot on Thursday evening and collected the blood samples from the spot. Similarly, the IGP (Central Zone) Varadarajulu ordered examination of the CCTV footage on the route from Thuvakudi to Tiruverumbur. While political leaders like Vanathi Srinivasan (BJP), Seeman (NTK), MLA Mahesh Anbil Poyyamozhi (DMK) and others visited the spot.

The Madras High Court on Thursday has refused to take suo motu cognisance of the incident in which a pregnant woman died in Tiruverumbur near Tiruchy after she was run over by a van as an inspector allegedly kicked the two-wheeler she was riding pillion, saying an FIR has already been registered.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose, before whom a mention was made by social activist Traffic Ramaswamy and an advocate about the forcible police intervention causing the death of the woman, on finding from the public prosecutor that an FIR has been filed over the incident, asked “What more do you want?”

However, when the petitioners insisted that such occurrences have become a daily affair and despite the availability of all the documents by the motor vehicle users, the police continue to extract money and misbehave with two-wheeler riders, the bench orally observed that no doubt such atrocities by police should be curbed. But how can the High Court direct the police or others not to receive money without any evidence and how can the court take suo motu cognisance in this connection. However, the bench directed Ramaswamy to file a petition in this regard which will be taken for hearing in the due course.

Opposition parties in the state have lashed out at the police for the death of pregnant Usha, who was killed after a traffic cop allegedly kicked the bike she was riding pillion on. 

Expressing shock at the death of Usha at Tiruverumbur in Tiruchy, Leader of Opposition MK Stalin on Thursday strongly condemned the “inhuman act” of police, who also wielded their batons against people who had staged a road roko demanding action against the traffic inspector. 

Registering his strong condemnation, state Congress president Su Thirunavukkarasar demanded the immediate release of the people who were arrested for agitating against the cops. Urging the state to give Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the kin of the deceased woman, Thirunavukkarasar also asked the police to not violate human rights. 

Meanwhile, K Balakrishnan, state secretary of CPM, in a statement, urged the government to book double murder case against the inspector and take necessary measures to release people, who were held during a protest. Similarly, slamming police excess during public protest, PMK MP Anbumani Ramadoss also sought for booking the inspector on charges of murder. “Most importantly, the government should consider providing training and counselling to the police personnel on how to respect human rights,” he noted. 

TTV Dinakaran too slammed the police in Madurai.