Thoothukudi deaths: petition was moved before the Delhi High Court

The death toll rose to 13 in Thoothukudi, in police firing, the petition was submitted before the Delhi High Court on Thursday seeking the direct intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) or an independent probe into the “unlawful killings” of protesters during the anti-Sterlite rally.

The petition filed by advocate A. Rajarajan, national vice president of National Union Backward Classes, SC/ST and Minorities, is likely to become up for hearing before the High Court on Friday.

Mr. Rajarajan said the rights commission denied to consider his representation for an urgent hearing while ignoring the ground realities happening in Thoothukudi.

He said NHRC has simply requested a report from Chief Secretary and DGP of Tamil Nadu government even as they are the official heading the civil and police administration under whom the alleged the human rights violation took place.

“Unless otherwise the NHRC directly interferes at the earliest by its own or through an independent agency as mandated under the protection of human rights act… the unlawful killings by police will continue,” Mr. Rajarajan said. The commission should immediately look into the issue as there was a possibility of destruction of evidence of the unlawful killings by the state police “since they were the perpetrators, conspirators and executors of the unlawful killings.”

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“It becomes the bounden duty of NHRC to protect further killings of citizens due to unlawful police firing, and also to take steps to gather evidence regarding deaths already occurred, which will be only possible through the direct intervention of the commission as a watchdog in the field or through an agency like CBI,” the plea said.

Mr Rajarajan reported that the police firing was done without obeying any existing laws of the land which regulates the conduct of police personnel during police firing and usage of force by police personnel to disperse the crowds.

Another firing occurred which leads to the death of a person, even after the NHRC sought a response from state officials, He stated.