A stormy protest over Chennai’s conservancy services has now spilled into the courtroom, with the Madras High Court stepping in to examine serious claims of police brutality.
On Tuesday, a division bench comprising Justices MS Ramesh and V Lakshminarayanan appointed a one-man commission led by retired judge Justice V Parthiban to probe the allegations. The State Legal Services Authority has been instructed to assist the commission, which must deliver its findings by September 17.
The Tamil Nadu government has been directed to pay an initial honorarium of ₹2 lakh to the commission, routed through the city police.
The controversy began in August when sanitary workers of the Greater Chennai Corporation staged protests outside the Ripon Building against the move to privatise conservancy services in two zones. They were joined by a group of lawyers and law students. Thirteen protestors were taken into custody on August 13 and 14, sparking a habeas corpus petition that alleged unlawful detention and assault.
The petition highlighted the cases of Advocate Aarthy and law graduate Valarmathi, who were allegedly beaten for hours by women police officers, leaving one of them unconscious.
Police, for their part, denied the charges and instead filed cases against the protestors, accusing them of rioting, damaging buses, and attacking a woman constable. But the judges made it clear: “While the Police are entitled to arrest persons for infraction of laws, they are certainly not entitled to assault those who have been arrested.”
The commission has been asked to answer a pointed question—were the detainees assaulted after their arrest?
The case has already raised eyebrows. In an earlier hearing, the same bench had observed that the detention of four lawyers and two law students “may be unlawful,” noting that not all detainees had been produced before a magistrate for remand. Six individuals were subsequently released on interim orders.
The panel’s report, due later this month, will decide whether this clash between protestors and police was a lawful arrest gone awry—or an abuse of power in plain sight.
