Chennai cops accused of assault fail to turn up before State Human Rights Commission

CHENNAI: Two policemen accused of assaulting a woman and her son at Mambalam here, allegedly as the biker was not wearing a helmet and riding triples, did not appear before the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on Wednesday. They were issued summons earlier this month. A Bench headed by D Jayachandran had ordered sub-inspector Suresh and special sub-inspector Jayaraman to appear for an inquiry on Wednesday, after taking suo motu cognisance of newsreports. However, the hearing was adjourned to Thursday as there was no response from the policemen.   

“A written communication has been sent to the police commissioner, seeking confirmation on whether the summon orders have been passed to the respective officers,” he said. The two officials have been accused of assaulting Prakash (21) and his mother Sangeetha (48) on April 2 for riding triples with his younger sister. After intercepting Prakash’s bike, an altercation followed when the police demanded a fine. 
Videos of the exchange were shared widely on social media platforms, causing public outrage. 

Notice to Collector in food poisoning case 

The State Human Rights Commission on Wednesday issued notices to Tiruvallur Collector and Director of Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme to file a factual report within four weeks over 27 children taking ill after consuming noon meal at a government-aided school at Gummidipoondi.
The rights body took suo motu cognisance of reports published in English dailies on April 18 on the incident. 

On Monday, 27 children at CSI primary school at Kumaripalayampettain in Tiruvallur district were admitted to the Institute of Child Health, Egmore for treatment of food poisoning. The children fell sick after they had ‘vegetable biriyani’ and egg that were served for noon meal in the school.
Meanwhile, the remaining two children were also discharged from the hospital on Wednesday. On Tuesday, 25 children were discharged.