Urging the State to ensure there was no repeat of such an incident, the Bench observed that while the protest might not have been legal or legitimate, citizens could not be fired at on behalf of a corporate body. In its order, the court asked the government to "go the extra mile" and "be seen to be with the families".

The First Bench of the Madras High Court Monday directed the authorities concerned to drop all cases registered against protesters involved in the anti-Sterlite agitation, which had ended in police firing that killed 13 people in May 2018.

In oral observations, as reported by PTI, the Bench, including Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice T S Sivagnanam, said the firing was a scar on Indian democracy and should not be forgotten.

Urging the State to ensure there was no repeat of such an incident, the Bench observed that while the protest might not have been legal or legitimate, citizens could not be fired at on behalf of a corporate body. In its order, the court asked the government to “go the extra mile” and “be seen to be with the families”.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by social activist Henry Tiphagne over a report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the police firing not being made public.

At the August 9 hearing, the court had directed the NHRC to submit its report, and it did so on Monday.

“The matter should be brought to its logical end, as expeditiously as possible, to give a meaningful closure to the matter and the circumstances in which firing had to be resorted to against unarmed citizens must come out in the report,” the court said.