2 days ago, in yet another incident of police brutality, a physically-challenged man, Parabhakaran (45), belonging to the Dalit community in Salem district who was implicated in a theft case, died hours after release from police custody.
Prabhakaran, who was in jail from 11th January, was admitted in the Salem Government Hospital after his health deteriorated at the supervision of jail wardens. He reportedly got bail in the alleged theft case a few days back and was sent back home from the hospital. However, Prabhakaran died on the same night at 11:30 PM. Following this, three Police officials were suspended from duty.
Now, after many have demanded that action be taken against Police Brutality, Chief Minister MK Stalin has announced that Prabhakaran’s family will receive a compensation of ₹10 lakhs. However, he has not said anything about taking action against the Police officers who are allegedly behind Prabhakaran’s death.
It is to be noted that when MK Stalin was the opposition leader, he asked the then CM Edappadi Palaniswami, why he had not taken any responsibility for the death on Father-son duo Jeyaraj and Bennix in Police custody. He had said that the CM had given the authority to the Police officers and therefore he must take responsibility for their death. However, now that Stalin has occupied the CM chair, he has not taken any responsibility for the physically-challenged Prabhakran’s death due to Police brutality. This has been questioned by AIADMK Spokesperson Kovai Sathyan.
சாத்தான்குளம் தந்தை,மகன் இறந்ததற்கு எதிர்கட்சி தலைவராக”காவல்துறைக்கு யார் அதிகாரம் கொடுத்தது, இதற்கு முதலமைச்சர் பொறுப்பு ஏற்க வேண்டும்” என்று வீரவசனம் பேசினீர்களே.இப்போ @mkstalin நீங்கதானே முதல்வர், மாற்றுத்திறனாளி பிரபாகரன் மரணத்திற்கு நீங்கள் ஏன் பொறுப்பு ஏற்கவில்லை? pic.twitter.com/r8gUkykWBn
— Kovai Sathyan (@KovaiSathyan) January 17, 2022
It is also to be noted that many cases of death due to Police Brutality, and death in Police Custody, have been reported ever since the DMK took power in May, 2021. Before this, Manikandan, a 21-yr-old from Ramanathapuram, had lost his life in a petty case, due to Police brutality. No action has been taken against the Police officers, even in previous cases.
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