Tamil Nadu: 11 years after police action, snacks vendor in Kancheepuram gets compensation

CHENNAI: The State Human Rights Commission has ordered a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to a snack vendor in Kancheepuram, 11 years after he was allegedly harassed by the police to evict him from the shop.The complainant, V Manoharan, was running a snacks shop on a land he had rented from Balasubramanian in Mettu Street in Kancheepuram. Manoharan had obtained an interim stay from a local court on his eviction since Balasubramanian was planning to sell the land.

However, in December 2007, a couple — Ekambaram and Pushparani — who claimed to have purchased the land from Balasubramanian, along with then Sub-Inspector of Police V Mariappan attached to the Vishnu Kanchi Police Station, allegedly barged into Manoharan’s shop and took him to the police station after assaulting him. 

After filing a false case under the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act against Manoharan, his wife and brother-in-law, the group went on to destroy the kitchen in his shop before locking it up, Manoharan submitted before the forum.Mariappan, in his counter, said that the suit before the district munsiff court was pending disposal and that Manoharan had voluntarily handed over the vacant possession of land to Ekambaram in November 2007. 

After perusing the documents, the commission headed by A Chittaranjan Mohandoss observed that Mariappan, based on a false complaint, had forcibly evicted Manoharan from the property to show that it was already handed over by Manoharan himself.

“It is also known to this commission that if the complainant himself had handed over vacant possession on his own to the said Ekambaram as early as November 30, 2007, there was no need for him to pick a quarrel on December 7 the same year. This one point would defeat the claim of the police that the possession was handed over by Manoharan himself,” the order issued on April 19 said.The State Human Rights Commission recommended to the State government to recover the compensation of Rs 1 lakh from Mariappan, who has now retired.