The Tamil Nadu government has told the Madras High Court that the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission of Inquiry (CoI), probing the police firing that led to the death of 13 anti-Sterlite protesters in Thoothukudi in May 2018, could not complete its probe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a counter affidavit filed before Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, the government stated that the inquiry had to be stalled for different periods between April 2020 and June 2021 due to the threat posed by first and second waves of COVID-19.
“The CoI is presently examining the police personnel from July 2021,” the affidavit read. The counter was filed in response to a public interest litigation petition filed by Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director of People’s Watch, a human rights organisation based in Madurai.
Though the CoI was expected to complete the probe within three months as per the initial notification issued for its constitution on May 23, 2018, its tenure was thereafter extended periodically since the inquiry involved examination of many individuals.
The Commission visited the place of occurrence and obtained affidavits from police personnel, revenue officials, Sterlite copper smelting plant staff, journalists, ambulance staff and those serving in the Collectorate to know their version about the incident.
It then proceeded to collect evidences such as video footages, clippings from various news channels/mediapersons, phone call details of Executive Magistrates/Deputy Tahsildars who ordered the shooting and this process was concluded by the end of December 2019.
Hard drive
The Commission requested Thoothukudi Collector to share footages from CCTV cameras fixed inside the Collectorate. Footages from May 15, 2018 to the day of the firing on May 22, 2018 were called for. However, it was told that Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) had seized the hard drive.
The CB-CID, in turn, stated that the hard drive was handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after the investigation got transferred. The CBI informed the CoI that the drive was sent to Center for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
After repeated requests, the CoI received the hard drive from the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Madurai only in February this year. In the meantime, the Commission summoned 1,153 witnesses of whom 718 were examined and 1,126 material evidences were collected, the counter affidavit stated.
However, in its interim report submitted on May 14, the CoI had recommended withdrawal of criminal cases booked against the protesters and payment of ₹1.5 lakh to each of those who were arrested during the protest besides issuing No Objection Certificates to the arrested so that they could pursue higher education and employment without any trouble.
Accordingly, the government ordered withdrawal of the criminal cases and decided to pay ₹1 lakh each to 93 protesters who were arrested during the agitation against the copper smelting plant. In his July 2 compliance report, the Thoothukudi Collector had informed the government that ₹1 lakh each was paid to 84 persons and that the whereabouts of nine others were not known.
