Joining the growing list of film industry names to have spoken out against the custodial torture and death of two individuals in Thoothukudi district, filmmaker Hari, famous for his cop films, released a statement expressing anguish and hurt at the turn of events.
The man who conceptualised the highly successful Singam film franchise, which spawned remakes in other languages and the Vikram-starrer Saamy and its sequel, said in his statement that he wishes for such an incident to not repeat.
“An incident like what happened in Sathankulam should not happen ever again to Tamils. The only way to ensure that is to deal maximum punishment to those guilty of the crime,” the filmmaker said in a handwritten note that was released via social media platforms.
“Such actions by a few cops has brought disrepute to entire police department. Today, I feel deeply hurt that I made five films glorifying the police department,” Hari wrote, expressing his regret.
Actor Suriya, who is the face of the Singam franchise in Tamil also released a statement of condemnation in which he labelled the incident “organised crime”, after pointing out that the doctor who gave a clean bill of health, the district magistrate who “mechanically” remanded the duo to custody and prison officials who did not report the incident are equally culpable.