It also decides to restrict itself to departmental action against 17 police officers and accepts findings that the police action exceeded the limit
It also decides to restrict itself to departmental action against 17 police officers and accepts findings that the police action exceeded the limit
The Tamil Nadu government has decided against enhancing the compensation to the families of those who were killed and injured in the police firing in Thoothukudi on May 22, 2018, from the ₹20 lakh and ₹5 lakh that had already been paid respectively.
The Commission had recommended a compensation of ₹50 lakh each to the kin or legal heirs of the deceased after deducting ₹20 lakh already paid and a compensation of ₹10 lakh each to the injured persons after deducting ₹5 lakh already paid.
“The amounts suggested by this Commission would be neither illusory nor on the higher side but realistic,” the report said and recalled that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, while being the Leader of the Opposition, said that “an award of ₹1 crore to the kin of each of the deceased would be appropriate.”
Asked whether the government would not pay the enhanced compensation, a senior official said: “Apart from compensation, we have given government jobs according to their educational qualification…” The government has also decided to restrict itself to departmental action against 17 police officers named in the report. The Commission has recommended departmental action against these 17 police officers “without prejudice to launching criminal action”. When asked about it, the official explained, “Criminal action will be initiated only by law enforcement agencies. In this case, CBI probe is still going on.”
The Commission was also for taking departmental action against the then Thoothukudi Collector, N. Venkatesh, and three officials of the Revenue Department. A government order issued on October 17 this year said it “accepted the recommendations in respect of Terms of Reference-III restricting to initiation of departmental action against officers and restricting to the compensation/financial assistance already awarded as per the Government Order second and fourth read above.”
The government, however, accepted the Commission’s findings that the it was not an instance of the police using appropriate force but an action that had exceeded the limit and that there were procedural commissions and omissions. The government in principle accepted the measures recommended to prevent the recurrence of such incidents and decided to examine them.
