Vignesh

Context of Torture                                                               

• The victim was 25 years old, who was earning his living by taking people for horse rides at the Marina Beach, Chennai. The victim belonged to a Scheduled Caste Community.
• On April 18, 2022 the victim and his friend were stopped while going in a auto rickshaw were taken in Custody in the late night around 11 PM at kellys Traffic Junction by the night round police and tortured brutally for more than three hours continuously using the police helmet and several wooden logs rods that were locally available at a construction site nearby. The torture of night rounds police was witnessed by supervisory officers who came in their respective private vehicles.
• The Victim and his friend was taken to the Ayanavaram Police station, along with auto driver. Then the victim and his friend was taken to Secretariat Colony G-5 Police station. There the victim was developed health complications in the morning of 19.04.2022 and was therefore initially rushed to a private Hospital and then shifted to Kilpauk Medical College Hospital where the victim was declared dead while he was brought in.
• On 20.04.2022 the autopsy of the body was done and the cremation was also held on the same day in presence of a Metropolitan Magistrate No. II, Chennai.
• The Victims friend who was subject to the same torture and he was also a witness to the incident. He was remanded in the judicial custody on 19^th April, 2022.
• Secretariat Colony Police officials filed a false case in Crime Number 127 of 2022 against the victim and his friend. The Complaint was given by one of the perpetrator Mr. Pugazhum Perumal (Sub Inspector) alleging that victim and his friend had assaulted the patrol officials and abused them in filthy language.

Type of Torture

The victim was tortured using the police helmet and wooden Cudgels. 

Perpetrators

Mr. Pugazum Perumal, Sub Inspector, Constable Pounraj, Home Guard Mr. Deepak, Kumar (Sub Inspector) Chandrakumar (Constable), Munab (Head Constable) and Jegajeevan (Armed Reserve Police)

Physical and Psychological Effects

• The Victim’s brother was humiliated by the police as they barged into his residence and took him to the police station to inform him about his brother’s death.
• The victim’s family was never allowed to see his body in G-5 Secretariat Police station or later in the hospital when the body was laid out for post mortem or even after the autopsy. All these actions are contrary to the extensive directions of Santosh Guidelines (Which are resulted out of our Strategic litigation before the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court). 
• The victim's body has many scars on his whole body; his jaw was broken and severely damaged.
• 13 external injuries were found on the body of the victim, which include a fracture of the right tibial bone and two diffused contusions which were muscle deep apart from several other contusions, swelling, abrasion and other injuries were categorically recorded in the caption of antemortem injuries.
• Contusion on mid parietal region of the head, contusion about the left eye brown, Swelling with contusion over the left side of the cheek, Diffuse Contusion over front and back of lower half of right forearm and on the right hand. Swelling with a diffuse contusion on the left upper limb from the left shoulder to the left hand, Contusion on the back of the left shoulder, Contusion of the right Scapular region, Contusion of the lower part of the right side of back of the trunk, Abrasion on right gluteal region, facture of the right tibial bone, Contusion on right lower limb extending from mid-thigh region to the ankle region, Diffuse contusion on the left lower limb extending from the front of lower part of thigh region to the lower part of leg region and contusion on the sole of left foot.
• On 19.04.2022 Inspector of g-5 Secretariat Colony Police station Mr. Mohandass along with few other police officials visited victims family and threatened them. Other Police officials tried intimidate the victim’s family to settle the matter by accepting the money.
• The Victims family was threatened by the police that they would be beaten to death of they are not accepted the money, and forced them to take 1 lakhs rupees.

Description of assistance to be provided

• Representations were sent to the Commissioner of Police, Chennai, seeking CCTV Footage of the respective police stations
• Representation was sent to Chief Justice of Madras High Court to take suo moto action. Tamil Nadu state Human Rights Commission, Tamil Nadu State Legal Service Authority.
• Representations were also sent to and followed with the Dean of the Medical College Hospital, Kilpauk seeking a copy of the post-mortem report and video, that is to be legally made available to the family.
• A petition was filed before the Tamil Nadu State Commission of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• Intervention before the Metropolitan Magistrate No.2 Chennai and field a petition to return the amount of 1 lakh which the victim’s family was forced to accept by the police.
• A Writ Petition was filed in the Madras High Court[HPT1] . (W.P No 19672 of 2022) seeking Transfer of crime investigation to a Indian Police Service Officer rank officer of CB-CID department, Seeking Compensation to the custodial death of the victim as per the provisions of Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act and Adequate protection under Witness Protection Scheme 2018.
• Since most of the siblings of the deceased were homeless and extremely vulnerable to the police placing undue pressure and further harassment on them, they were all shifted outside Chennai city to a safe place for their stay in a community where their safety was assured. We had to provide for their travel by special vehicles and also provide for their food and accommodation there.  
• Rehabilitation to the victim's family by supporting the victim's brother in his technical education in a Polytechnique course.