In a judgment that has come as a shot in the arm for the activist community, the Madras High Court on Thursday hailed those who devote their lives for social causes despite being aware of the lurking danger and threat to their lives. It appreciated their contributions to the society without toeing the majority in the pursuit of self aggrandizement.
Ordering reinvestigation into the murder of Vellore-based activist D. Thanikachalam on November 11, 2014, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh said: “These social activists are the most vulnerable section of the society and there is absolutely no protection for them and more particularly when they fight against persons who have money and muscle power.”
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh pointed out that Thanikachalam had been fighting for long to evict encroachers from waterbodies. He had filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2009 to get the encroachers evicted from nine acres of a waterbody and obtained favourable orders. Nevertheless, the officials did not evict, forcing him to file a contempt of court petition against them. In November 2014, “the encroachers thought enough is enough and decided to liquidate Thanikachalam. On November 11, 2014, during night hours, he was brutally attacked and killed,” the judge said and pointed out that a FIR was registered against seven named accused on the basis of a complaint lodged by the activist’s brother, D. Subramanian.
The case was booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. However, not satisfied with the subsequent investigation conducted by the Ambur Taluk police, Mr. Subramanian filed the present petition before the High Court in 2015 seeking transfer of the probe to some other agency such as the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department.
Even as the transfer petition was gathering dust in the High Court, the Ambur police went ahead and filed a charge sheet against only one of the seven accused and dropped charges against others. Immediately, the petitioner amended his prayer beore the High Court and sought for a re-investigation or further investigation into the murder case by the CB-CID.
Concurring with the petitioner’s counsel V. Suresh that the police had attempted to shield the main accused, the judge quashed the charge sheet filed by the local police and directed it to hand over the entire case file to the CB-CID for reinvestigation by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.