SHRC directs SI to pay compensation for abusing journo

D Jayachandran, who presided over the Commission, held that SI Gopinath had violated the human rights of the petitioner, V Anbalagan, who is working as senior reporter of a Tamil weekly web magazine.

“Anbalagan is entitled to get compensation of Rs 50,000 within a month and the government may recover the amount from the sub-inspector.” The Commission also recommended the government to initiate disciplinary action against Gopinath as per the rules.

The petitioner alleged that he published a news about one Senthilkumaran, who gave a complaint against one Iyappan in a dispute with Gopinath. Enraged over this, Gopinath abused and threatened Anbalagan over phone on June 22, 2018, warning that he was not like other policemen and would even murder him.

Countering this allegation, Gopinath denied all the allegations and claimed that complainant was an anti-social element and he has criminal cases against him in Kotturpuram and Nungambakkam police limits.