'I could have spoken to him one last time,' an inconsolable sister on her brother, who was killed in police custody

Thirty-three-year-old Persis still rues missing a phone call from her brother Emmanuel Bennix, exactly a month to this day, on the fateful night of June 19. Persis was on another call when Bennix called her, but she did not cut the line to talk to her brother, thinking she would call him later.

“I should have attended the phone call and spoken to my brother for one last time. Little did I know that my brother was calling me for the last time, and we would never speak again. I rue not attending his call. If only I had picked up the call…,” Persis chokes as she narrates the family’s struggle for the past one month after losing their only brother and father P Jeyaraj.

As fate would have it, Persis did not speak to her father too on the day he was forcefully taken by the police. The father usually spoke to Persis and his two other daughters every few hours.

Jeyaraj and Bennix were arrested by police in Sathankulam town, 635 km from here, in Thoothukudi district over an argument on June 19. The father-son duo was allegedly tortured during police custody leading to their deaths, three days later. While Bennix breathed his last on June 22, Jeyaraj died a few hours later in the early hours of June 23.

After the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court took suo motu cognizance of the case, 10 policemen have been arrested so far and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the inquiry.

Sisters’ love for her brother

Persis, the eldest of Jeyaraj’s four children, said her brother always made it a point to call twice every day, mostly video calls to talk to her children.

“I thought the phone call on the night of June 19 was one such routine call. I did not know my brother was calling us to inform us that our father had been taken to the police station and that he was rushing there. A few minutes later, my sister Beulah, who lives in Pollachi, called me, and informed me about the incident,” Persis, who lives in Vijayawada, told DH.

“After realizing what had happened, I kept trying his number, but he never picked the phone as he was already at the police station. I should have attended the phone call and spoken to him. I would have told him to be calm and not get tensed about our father’s arrest. If I had picked the call, I could have also spoken to my brother for one last time,” Persis said, unable to control her tears.

The mother missing her son and his love

Bennix’s mother Jeyarani, Persis said, is struggling hard to come to terms with the sudden loss of her son and husband. The mother lived with Jeyaraj and Bennix in Sathankulam, while the daughters lived in Vijayawada, Pollachi, and Chennai with their respective families.

“My mother misses my brother a lot. The loss can never be explained in words. Though he was 31, Bennix would lie on my mother’s lap for a while every day. And now, for a month now, my mother says her lap longs for Bennix and his love. How do we console her? We all know he will never come back. But we do not know what to tell our mother. We live with tears round-the-clock,” Persis said.

For the family, Bennix was the most pampered child as he was the only brother of the three sisters. The 31-year-old was soft-spoken and would speak to his sisters every day, while Jeyaraj would call them every few hours.

“My brother had a child-like heart and he was a very cheerful person. He played cricket with people who are way younger to him because at heart, he was always a child. That he has been tortured by the police and he bled to death will always haunt us. We don’t wish such an end on anyone,” Persis said.

Bennix’s family was also looking for a bride for him but postponed the search due to the Covid-19 lockdown. “We were actively looking for a bride till about March, but the lockdown spoiled everything. He was the only son of the family and everyone was eagerly waiting for him to get married. But his life has been cut short abruptly,” Vinoth, Bennick’s brother-in-law, said.

Pinning hopes on the judiciary for delivery of justice

Jeyarani, her daughters and sons-in-law are pinning hopes on the CBI probe which is being monitored by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court to seek justice for their loved ones. They want the policemen who tortured Bennix and Jeyaraj to face the law as “we feel it is the only way to ensure such atrocities by police do not recur in the future.”

“It is the judiciary which is our last hope. Since the Madurai Bench has taken this case suo motu, we hope justice is delivered. We have lost two innocent lives who never even spoke ill of others to police brutality. We just hope everyone involved in this heinous crime is punished,” Vinoth told DH.

Persis added that the family explained everything to the CBI sleuths who recorded their statements. “We have told them whatever we have to. Now, it is for the investigating agencies and the judiciary to do their job. We are hoping justice is ensured to my father and my brother who did no wrong. We need closure,” Persis said.

Before ending the conversation, Persis said: “We will not get our father and brother back. We know that. But if the accused are punished, we can hope that no wife would lose her husband, mother, her son and sisters their brother. A strong punishment would serve as a deterrent and this is what we believe and hope.”