Support pours in for attacked man

MADURAI: A day after an engineering graduate was allegedly beaten up by a group of police personnel at a prime signal in the city for not wearing helmet and trying to get away it, lawyers and human rights activists came together in support of him.
They said the incident had once again proved that police personnel were not trained well enough when it came to handling people.Even Justice N Kirubakaran in his orders on strict implementation of the helmet rule had warned police that the order should not be misused to cause unnecessary hardships to the riders.
R Vimal Kumar, who sustained grievous injury in the alleged police attack, is undergoing treatment at Government Rajaji Hospital. Police have recorded a statement from Vimal.
Meanwhile, Thideer Nagar police registered a case against Vimal based on a complaint from the special sub inspector (SSI) who, along with a few more police personnel and auto rickshaw drivers, allegedly beat up the young man. The SSI complained that he suffered a fracture on his hand because Vimal had tried to drive away when he attempted to stop him.
More than the attack, Vimal said, he was rattled by the cruel attitude of the police. “Even when I was injured and was screaming out of pain, police refused to let me go. By the time my relatives arrived, I had fainted,” he said.
Henry Tiphagne, a human rights activist and executive director of People Watch, an organization that works in the human rights front, condemned the incident as “atrocious”.
“Police have no power to beat people up. What was done was illegal. Law does not permit them to beat people,” he said.
He said he had already dispatched a team to talk to Vimal Kumar and to take further steps.
“The high court, which is now becoming sensitive to various issues, should take suo moto action against these police personnel and see that justice is done to that man,” he added.
T Lajapathi Roy, high court advocate, said “This shows that police are not trained well enough. Two-wheeler commuters are often taken for granted by police. I have seen in officials using harsh words against them at many signals. Higher police officers are not taking up these issues seriously,” he said.
He also condemned the auto rickshaw drivers who joined the police personnel to beat him up. The drivers must have hit him to prove their loyalty to police. Roy pointed out that city police have now CCTV cameras installed at junctions. They could have noted down the number and taken action against Vimal later.
Justice Kirubakaran said in his order, “The court expects police authorities not to misuse this order to cause unnecessary hardships to the riders and give room for allegation of corrupt practice. If any complaint of unnecessary harassment and corrupt practice is made, the higher police officials should look into the said complaint very seriously and take appropriate action against those officials.”