Fact-finding team demands action on Aruna panel report

MADURAI: The jury members of the fact-finding team set up to look into Thoothukudi police firing, which occurred during the anti-Sterlite rally carried out by the protestors on May 22 in 2018, have sought the intervention of Chief Minister MK Stalin to take necessary action as per recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) headed by Justice Aruna Jegadeesan.

In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister by the jury members of the fact-finding team, set up in the name of People’s Inquest, to inquire into the police firing, the jury said it’s more than a year since the report of Justice Aruna Jagadeesan’s CoI was tabled in the Legislative Assembly and made public.

During the previous regime, former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami ordered an inquiry appointing Justice Aruna Jagadeesan, retired Judge of the Madras High Court. The inquiry, which carried on for almost four years, came out with a detailed four-volume report. The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) dealt with all aspects of the incidents thoroughly as per the terms of reference and gave its detailed findings.

When the report was tabled in the Assembly, the public was shocked to learn about the developments that had occurred on May 22, as well as the events that both preceded and followed those grave incidents. The Chief Minister, who had facilitated the CoI, made it clear that it’s accepted by the state government and appropriate action as per its recommendations would be taken against the erring officials and others. Unfortunately, that promise to initiate action against persons who had committed the heinous crime of killing 13 innocent civilians, which was made on the floor of the Assembly, remains unfulfilled.

When CM Stalin was the er of the Opposition, he made a solemn promise during the election campaign of 2021 that appropriate action would be taken against the people who were instrumental in causing the deaths and destroying the lives of the affected civilians. Kanimozhi during her tenure as an MP of Rajya Sabha was also in full support of conducting the People’s Inquest by the members of the jury, the memorandum stated.