JOIN USGive Rs 2 lakh to girl arrested for shouting anti-BJP slogans, SHRC tells TN police
More than three years after she was arrested for shouting “Fascist BJP down, down” slogans at the then Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan, the State Human Rights Commission on Wednesday ordered Rs 2 lakh compensation to a research scholar from Thoothukudi for “violation of human rights.”
In an order based on a complaint filed by the scholar’s father Dr A A Samy, SHRC member D Jayachandran said Rs 2 lakh be provided as compensation to Lois Sophia. The incident took place on September 3, 2018, aboard a Chennai-Thoothukudi flight in which Sophia, her parents and Soundararajan, currently Governor of Telangana, were passengers.
Sophia also shouted slogans at the arrival area of the Thoothukudi airport when the then BJP chief was proceeding to exit the premises. After the incident, she was arrested but was granted bail immediately by a local court. The incident led to a major political controversy in Tamil Nadu.
While awarding compensation to Sophia, the SHRC not only asked the state government to recover the amount from seven police officers in Thoothukudi but also recommended disciplinary action against them.
The SHRC said it is for the criminal court to decide whether Sophia has committed any offence punishable under 290 of IPC and Section 75 of TNCP Act and “this Commission cannot decide on this aspect.”
The policemen named are R Thirumalai, and A K Latha Inspector and SI of Pudukottai police station, V Ponramu, ASP, Headquarters, Thoothukudi, R Prakash, DDP, Thoothukudi town sub-division, Thoothukudi, J Annathai, then Inspector of Police, Pudukottai police station, (retired from service), G Baskaran, Inspector of Police, Special Branch CID, and S Nambirajan, Sub-Inspector of Police, Special Branch, Thoothukudi.
“This Commission is of the considered view that Lois Sophia is entitled to receive compensation for the violation of human rights from the respondents and fixing of Rs 2,00,000 as compensation to the complainant would be fair and reasonable and would meet the ends of justice,” the order said.
It added that the government may pay the amount within a month and recover Rs 50,000 from Thirumalai and Rs 25,000 each from others. “This Commission also recommends to initiate disciplinary action against the Respondents as per the Rules,” the order added.
The SHRC also asked the DGP to comply with the direction given by the Supreme Court of India in Arnesh Kumar Vs. State of Bihar case that the accused should not be arrested by the police “mechanically” where the offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may less than seven years or which may extend to seven years; whether with or without fine.
Sophia was arrested on a complaint filed by Soundararajan with the airport police alleging that the girl could have acted “at the insistence of a terror group.” Sophia’s father Samy had then alleged that his daughter was kept at the women’s police station for eight hours in the name of questioning.
In a statement released on her Twitter page, Sophia welcomed the SHRC order and hoped that it “will go a small way” towards discouraging police officers from “bowing to political pressure and abandoning the process of law."
“From the beginning, the police flouted the law and showed scant regard for the rules of arrest laid down by the Supreme Court. The FIR not only contains easily provable lies, but the police also tampered with it to include a non-bailable section. I believe the conduct of the police was a result of the direct prompting of former BJP Tamil Nadu state president Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan and her party,” she said.
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