NHRC issues notice to TN govt. over reports of illegal detention of 17-year-old

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday issued a notice to Tamil Nadu government over report of illegal detention and torture of a juvenile of Kurava community by the state police.

Taking suo motu cognizance of media reports, the commission sought reports from state Chief Secretary and the DGP within four weeks as well as the action, if any, taken against the erring police personnel.

According to media reports, the police illegally detained a 17 year old boy and his two family members in connection with a burglary and tortured them brutally last month in Chennai.

They were tortured allegedly on the ground that they belonged to a tribe dubbed by the British as criminals under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871.

Expressing concern over the report, the NHRC observed that no human being should be subjected to discrimination merely on the fact that he belongs to a particular caste, creed or community.

Even as, reportedly, the debate over the tweet continued, a boy was learning what it meant to be born a Kurava by giving an account of the torture, pain and discrimination his father suffered into the hands of police in the name of investigations without any case being registered three years back, and how he also became a victim of the same fate along with one of his cousins and uncles.

On the July 31, some police personnel from the Ambattur Police Station, in Chennai, picked them up from his hut in Cholavandipuram, Villupuram district for questioning about an incident of burglary about which he had no idea.

They were subjected to unbearable torture and inhuman treatment by the police during their detention at the police station for three days. The victims were made partially naked, beaten up with wooden log and were being forced to name someone from their community for his involvement in the theft. Badly injured, they had to drink the water, fetched from the lock-up toilet, as the drinking water was not available to them.