A view of the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court. File
| Photo Credit: R. Ashok
Taking a serious view of the Sivaganga custodial torture case that led to the death of a temple contractual security guard B. Ajith Kumar (27), the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, on Tuesday (July 1, 2025) sought a series of reports from the authorities.
Hearing petitions on the issue, a Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and A.D. Maria Clete directed Thirupuvanam Judicial Magistrate to file the preliminary report and Dean of Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai to file the post-mortem report by 3 p.m..
Besides, the Bhadrakali Amman temple executive officer and one Shakthieeswaran, who shot a video of the police torturing Ajith Kumar at the temple cattle shed, were directed to be present before the court at 3 p.m..
Tamil Nadu government submitted that action was being taken by it and that police personnel involved in the case were arrested.
Court displeased
However, the court expressed its displeasure and observed the action taken so far by the State was not commensurate with the gravity of the incident. “We want to assess your fairness by seeing what action is taken against the higher officials”, the court said.
The court questioned as to how a special team had taken up the issue and beaten up Ajith Kumar and who gave permission to the special team to act. Even if the special team acted on its own, the higher officials were still accountable, the court observed. The State submitted that the special team acted following social media posts.
‘Police cannot be investigators in case against them’
When the State informed the court that the probe was transferred to CB-CID, the court said police cannot be investigators in their own case. The facts narrated disturbed the conscience of the court, the judges said.
A series of petitions have been filed seeking a direction to the State to provide adequate compensation and take action against the erring police officials. A CBI/SIT probe was also sought.
The case
On June 27, an elderly woman Sivakami, accompanied by her daughter Nikitha visited a temple in Madapuram near Thirupuvanam in Sivaganga district to offer prayers. Since Sivakami required assistance in entering the temple, Nikitha handed the car key to Ajith Kumar for parking the vehicle.
On returning from the temple, Nikitha noticed that around 10 sovereigns of gold were missing. She complained to the temple authorities and Thirupuvanam police. In this regard, Ajith Kumar was called for an inquiry on June 27 and later sent home. On June 28, Ajith Kumar was taken in for interrogation again by the special police team where he was brutally beaten up, tortured and murdered by the police authorities while in police custody, the petitioners said.
During the hearing, the petitioners said Ajith Kumar did not know how to drive and he had asked one Arun to park the car.
The petitioners said there were no written complaints and following the oral complaint Ajith Kumar and plumber Kannan were asked to go to the police station for an inquiry. Ajith Kumar, Arun and Ajith Kumar’s brother Naveen and others were also called for inquiry. It was submitted that Ajith Kumar was taken to various places including the temple cattle shed and beaten up black and blue with plastic pipes and iron rods and he was taken to hospital after he had fainted.
The court questioned why the inquiry was not held at the police station. Was it done to avoid CCTV cameras at the police station, the court asked. The petitioners submitted that the Judicial Magistrate was surrounded by police and not allowed to inquire people.
It was also alleged that DMK functionaries were involved in trying to reach a compromise with the family members of Ajith Kumar. It was said ₹50 lakh and a government job was being offered.
Published – July 01, 2025 03:38 pm IST
