Naxal encounter case referred to Madras HC CJ

Chennai, Apr 21 (UNI) A Division Bench of the Madras High Court today referred to the Chief Justice, for posting before another Bench, a Habeas Corpus petition seeking to produce a Naxalite before the court whose colleague was gunned down in an encounter by the police at Kodaikanal.

When the petitions came up for hearing, the Bench comprising Justices D Murugesan and V Periyakaruppiah, refused to hear the petitions following allegations levelled against them by the Defence counsel.

During the course of arguments, Sankar Subbu, counsel for the petitioner S Senkodi, a practicing lawyer, alleged the April 19 encounter death of Naveen alias Naveen Prasad could have been avoided, had the Bench entertained the petition on April 17 itself.

Irked by these comments, the Bench refused to hear the petition and referred it to the Chief Justice for posting it before another Bench.

In her petitions, Ms Senkodi submitted that two Naxals, Naveen and Viswanathan alias Viswalingam, were arrested by the police on April 12. Subsequently, Naveen was shot dead at a point blank range by the police a week later.

Apprehending Viswanathan could also meet with the same fate, she sought a direction to the police to produce him before the court and set him at liberty.

She also prayed for a direction to the Q Branch Police and the Dharmapuri District Collector to conduct a second post-mortem on the body of Naveen in the presence of an independent doctor and videographing it.

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