The Madras High Court on Friday came down heavily against the Tamil Nadu government over the 2018 police firing at Thoothukodi against unarmed protestors at the Sterlite plant that left 13 people dead.
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam made the observation on a plea seeking a direction to the National Human Rights Commission to reopen the case pertaining to the police firing incident.
“It is somewhat alarming that the state, through its police, fired at unarmed protestors and no one is booked three years after the incident. It does not augur well for a civilised society governed by constitutional principles that we have to merely throw money at the families of the victims and give closure to an incident of brutality and excessive police action,” it said, while directing the NHRC to submit the report of its team that probed the police firing on anti-Sterlite protestors.
The court also orally observed that throwing money at people and hushing up everything is not good for a society governed by a Constitution. A greater part with regard to the punishment is left unanswered, it noted.
“Can we kill people and throw money at them and say that our job is done? Is that the society we want to build? Just throwing money at some people and everything else is hushed up,” it said.
The High Court also directed the Tamil Nadu government to submit the interim report of the Justice (retired) Aruna Jagadeesan Commission.