Mr. Rajarathinam

Advocate

Tamil Nadu

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on 6 November regarding the illegal arrest, custodial torture and false case against human rights defender and advocate Mr. Rajarathinam in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Mr. Rajarathinam is an advocate. He belongs to a Scheduled Caste (Dalit). He has been appearing, representing and defending persons from the weaker, exploited and undefended sections of the society belonging to the surrounding villages and hamlets.

On August 15, 2017, a person insulted Mr. Rajarathinam by using his caste name. Mr. Rajarathinam filed a complaint at the Pazhavoor Police Station in Tirunelveli, but the FIR was not registered by the police. Since the FIR was not registered, he made a petition to the Superintendent of Police, Tirunelveli, to make necessary action on his complaint. He also filed a RTI petition on the status of his complaint.

On the night of November 3, 2017, a team of seven policemen of which 6 of them were in uniform, came to the house of Mr. Rajarathinam and demanded that he should come with them to the police station. When asked on whose orders, they said that Deputy Superintendent of Police had asked them to do so. He requested that he be allowed to change his clothes and use the toilet. Saying so, he went to the toilet.

In the meantime, the police team barged into the house where his wife was inside with their teenage daughter and son. One of the policemen held his wife and twisted her hand while another snatched away her phone and she was pushed down. Hearing this commotion Mr. Rajarathinam rushed inside and questioned the policemen, to which they abused him using his caste name. His wife, Ms. Saroja, was admitted at the Asaripallam Government Hospital in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, where she was treated for her injuries caused by the policemen. 

When Mr. S P Udayakumar, leader of the Kudankulam movement, visited the Uvari Police Station, he saw Mr. Rajarathinam visibly shaken. He was sitting in the police station without any shirt. His left toe was injured and he was bleeding. He had been brutally tortured and beaten up by the police while he was in their custody at the Uvari Police Station.

When the news spread that Mr. Rajarathinam has been detained at the Uvari Police Station, activists and lawyers went there and questioned about the charges under which he was illegally brought to the police station and tortured; the police personnel did not give any answers. The police personnel were keen in sending back Mr. Rajarathinam as they knew that the situation has gone out of their hands and they wanted to release him without any charges. The police could not do that as there was no complaint against Mr. Rajarathinam. Thereby, it was clearly proved that it was an illegal arrest. This incident shows the utter lack of respect and adherence to rule of law by the police, including senior police officials.