Illegal detention: Foresters told to pay Rs 4 lakh fine

CHENNAI: The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has directed the additional chief secretary of the environment department to pay a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to a social worker in Kanniyakumari and to recover the money from the forest officials who allegedly ill-treated the person and held him in illegal custody in 2019.

According to a petition filed to the SHRC, Kanniyakumari assistant conservator of forests Sha Nawas Khan; Kulasekaram forest ranger Silverster; Velimalai forest ranger Kalaiarasan; and forester Arun had illegally detained Tyson, a rice merchant and social worker, along with a few others for allegedly trespassing into a forest at night.

Tyson, in the petition, said that he, along with nine others including a native tribal, were in fact on their way to Thachamalai to celebrate Pongal festivities on the request of Inspector Samson from Naxal Eradication Division. “We were carrying provisions and some materials for the celebration, but the forest officer at the zero point check post stopped and ill-treated us.” He said they were assaulted, verbally abused, and kept at the Ponmani forest range office the whole night on January 13, 2019 and were not provided food and water.

Though the inspector came to the office and requested for their release, they weren’t released until the next evening. He added that they were also made to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 without being given any receipt.
Considering the allegations, the SHRC summoned the forest officials concerned. They claimed the Thachamalai villagers had no information on the festival and Tyson’s reasons for being in the forest area were not convincing. After going through the evidence and statements, SHRC concluded that the forest officials should have handled the situation better.

“They were well within their rights to ask the complainant and his team to leave and return with the required permission, but on the contrary, they detained them which was an act of aggression uncalled for, considering the fact that there was a tribal man from the village along with the Tyson... Registering a case against the villager is totally unacceptable,” the commission said.