TN: Pay Rs 1 lk to parents of suicide victim

Chennai, Sep 15: The State Human Rights Commission has asked the government to pay Rs one lakh to the parents of a person who allegedly committed suicide due to police harassment.

If the government had already paid the compensation, the balance, if any, should be paid to the family.

The Commission Bench, comprising Chairperson, Justice A S Venkatachalamoorthy and Member K Mariappan, also said the government should take necessary departmental action against two erring Head Constables, if it had not taken action earlier. The government should recover Rs 25,000 from each of them in installments.

In his complaint, Mr W Michael of Puliyakulam in Coimbatore said police personnel from three stations visited his house at odd hours saying they wanted to inquire about one Krishnan, a relative, who was allegedly involved in some criminal cases.

He told the police that he did not know the address of the person as his family had not been in touch with him. The police inquired with the other members of the family also.

His son, Nelson, was harassed by the police and he allegedly committed suicide by hanging in 2006.

Head Constables P Marimuthu and M Anbarasan of B-7 and B-3 Police Stations in Coimbatore, denied the allegations against them.

They said after the inquiry, Nelson was allowed to go home. They came to understand there was a quarrel between Nelson and his mother.

Later, Nelson committed suicide.

The Commission said it accepted the complainant's case the constables visited his house almost every day and exceeded their limits. Instead of making an inquiry with the people concerned, they mentally harassed them, in particular, Nelson.

During cross-examination, Mr Marimuthu admitted he maintained a pocket diary in which the places he would visit on official work would be mentioned.

A notebook was maintained in which people inquired on different dates would find place. But, the documents were not placed before the Commission.

UNI