The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that 40 year old Kalimuthu, arrested in connection with a theft case, was found dead while in custody at Thalassery Police Station in Kerala on the 09th October, 2016. He hailed from Salem district of Tamil Nadu. He was, reportedly, tortured by police. The Commission has issued a notice to the Director General of Police, Kerala calling for a detailed report including the Inquest, Postmortem Examination, video CD of the Postmortem and other relevant reports as per standing directions given by the Commission.
Issuing the notice, the Commission has observed that this is a case of violation of Right to Life of a person who died in police custody, where he was reportedly, detained without any reason. The callous attitude of the police personnel amounts to dereliction of duty on their part. The police detained them even after knowing that both of them were not guilty. According to the media report, carried on the 10th October, 2106, that Kalimuthu, the deceased, along with another person was caught near a temple in Thalassery area by public. The police came and took both of them in their custody. The police later found that the two were not involved in any theft but it did not release immediately. As per police version, both of them were manhandled by the crowd after they were caught on suspicion.
National Human Rights Commission