Government order against erring cops upheld

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has upheld the the TN government’s order to  recover from two cops, at whose hands a person died while in custody, a compensation amount.Justice K Chandru upheld the order that sought to recover Rs 1.93 lakh from K Subramaniam, Spl. SI and `2.56 lakh from B Kalitheerthan, Inspector attached to the Coastal Security in Nagapattinam, while dismissing the writ petitions from them.The cops contended that the trial court - Judicial Magistrate-III, Pollachi - had acquitted them and the departmental enquiry that seeks to enhance the penalty was subsequently given up in one case and in another case, the court had set aside the penalty. Therefore, the allegation of torture was not proved either by the trial court or in the departmental enquiry. Therefore, based on the order passed by this court, the amount could not be recovered from them, they claimed.Rejecting their contentions, Justice Chandru said that the acquittal by the lower court had no relevance to deny payment of compensation, especially on the evidence of the doctor that there were physical injuries on the body of the deceased, which should have been inflicted only by the petitioners, the judge observed.