Swathi murder case: Madras HC dismisses plea against NHRC closure order

Chennai: Madras high court has dismissed a plea moved by the father of Ramkumar, sole accused in the 2016 Swathi murder case, to quash the closure order of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) into the alleged custodial death of his son in Puzhal Central Prison. Ramkumar allegedly died by suicide by biting a live wire while lodged in prison.Ramkumar's father, Paramasivam, alleged that the NHRC closed suo motu complaint as ‘action dropped' solely based on a report filed by the then Chennai commissioner of police. The commission should conduct an independent inquiry by examining witnesses and only then arrive at a conclusion, the petitioner contended.Refusing to concur, the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan said, "When the commission closed the complaint as early as on May 4, 2020, the petitioner came with the present petition after a long delay." The commission, after considering all the material available, and based on the independent investigation report and the report submitted by police, concluded that the petitioner's son died by suicide, and no further intervention was required, the court said."Further, a division bench of this court considered all the issues by taking note of the unanimous postmortem certificate, the findings of the inquiry report by the judicial magistrate and the order of the state govt dropping further proceedings, which remain unassailed. In such circumstances, the NHRC has rightly passed the order dropping further proceedings," the court said and dismissed the plea.
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