Relatives accept bodies of father-son; hope to get justice in Tamil Nadu

Expressing their faith on the judiciary, kin of a father-son duo who was allegedly beaten to death by police in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin district, accepted their bodies.

Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu):The relatives of two traders, who died in a hospital at nearby Tuticorin district after being allegedly beaten up by police, accepted the bodies of the deceased on Thursday, expressing hope they would get justice and following assurances given by the officials.

Persy, daughter of the deceased P Jayaraj, expressed hope that since the Madras High Court had taken up the case, they will get justice.

She also said that since her mother was not well, the family had accepted the bodies after the post-mortem was conducted at a government hospital.

P Jayaraj and his son Fennix, arrested for violating lockdown norms over business hours of their cellphone shop, died at a hospital in Kovilpatti, with the relatives alleging that they were severely thrashed at the Sathankulam police station by police personnel earlier.

The incident had triggered a furore in the state, leading to the suspension of four policemen, including two sub-inspectors.

However, the family of the deceased had on Wednesday demanded to file a murder case against the sub-inspectors and said they would not accept the bodies till their plea was heeded to.

The post-mortem was conducted yesterday and done in the presence of the three-member team of doctors as directed by the High Court.

It was was also video-recorded.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami has said that since the High Court was monitoring the case, the future course of action will be based on its directions.

Meanwhile, in the backdrop of the force facing flak over the incident, the state police came out with a new set of guidelines regarding arrests and related matters during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), "except in heinous crimes, arrests may be deferred by the Police," a circular in this connection said.

"The decision on arrests should be taken by the SDO (sub-divisional officer)," the circular read.

It also laid out many other guidelines vis-a-vis the pandemic, including nominating a person from each police station with full protective gear to record the arrests.

(PTI report)