SHRC slaps Rs 50,000 fine on 3 cops

The police officers were identified as the then inspector Chandrasekaran, sub-inspector Rajendran, and special sub-inspector Baskaran, all of them attached to Thiruvaiyaru police station at the time of the complaint.

The complainant Dharmarajan, now deceased, was a tenant at the house owned by Govindarajan. There was dispute between Govindarajan’s son Venkatesan and the complainant about vacating the house. Dharmarajan lodged a complaint against Venkatesan at Thiruvaiyaru police station. On June 26, 2014, SSI Baskaran and a head constable came to the house and threatened Dharmarajan and his wife, Rukmini, pushed them out of the house, and took the key.

Around 8 pm, when Dharmarajan and Rukmini were sitting in front of the house, inspector Chandrasekaran and sub-inspector Rajendran came there. They abused the couple, slapped and kicked Rukmini. Venkatesan and relatives also attacked them, later took away their utensils and locked the house.

Rukmani was admitted to the hospital for treatment, said the complainant in his petition. However, the police registered a false complaint from Venkatesan’s mother and foisted a case against them.

As the charges were found true based on oral and documentary evidence, the SHRC member D Jayachandran recommended the State government to pay Rs 50,000 to Boopathy, the legal representative of Dharmarajan, and recover it from the three officers.