Human Rights Defenders

Tamil Nadu

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on 27^th September regarding the brutal beating and ill treatment of Human Rights Defenders and denying their right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association to register their protest by the police of Madurai.

The highway road between the villages of Ala Puthupatti to Kalvelippatti were in good condition, but the government needlessly carried out repair work using poor quality materials, and as a result the road has been damaged. The 6.6 km highway road has been badly deteriorating for the past few years. A civic organization had submitted numerous complaint letters on behalf of four villages regarding the highway conditions to the respective district officials and administrations including the Divisional Engineer, State Highways, Madurai, the District Collector, Madurai. The officials however did not bother to take remedial measures. Piqued by the inaction on the part of the officials, nearly 800 villagers of Alagapuri, Kutty meikkanpatti, Kovilur and Periya Ilanthaikulam staged a protest and blocked the road at Alagapuri bus-stand on August 21, 2017. Around 800 villagers staged a protest demanding to repair the highway road in their neighbourhood. A senior revenue official rushed to the gathering and while he was speaking to the protesters, without prior warning Police Inspector Anna Raj and other identifiable police men attacked the protestors and chased away them away from that place. The unarmed men and women were dragged and brutally beaten by the police personnel. They arrested 47 protestors and charged them with cases under Sections. 143 & 188 Indian Penal Code on charges of unlawful assembly.

HRDA prayed for thorough investigation and to take immediate actions on the perpetrators of the case.