CW-2008-0002Tiruvannamalai, Tamil NaduJudgment 5 February 2008

Tiruvannamalai Man vs State of Tamil Nadu

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court allowed the writ appeal of Rajammal, widow of pawn broker a Tiruvannamalai man, who was picked up by a Tiruvannamalai police party on 11 September 1993, died the same day from police excesses, and whose body was dumped in the Thachambattu Reserve Forest. Treating the custodial death as established and noting the State had sanctioned criminal prosecution of the officers (C.C. No. 1514 of 2000 before the Judicial Magistrate, Tiruvannamalai), the Court held compensation against the State the appropriate remedy for the established infringement of Article 21. Having regard to the widow large family of six children and financial distress, it enhanced the single judge award from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh as prayed for, relying on Nilabati Behera, D.K. Basu and Shyamsunder Trivedi on custodial violence. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.

Externally reportedV2
What this record means

This page documents a court-adjudicated case from the judgment and cited sources below. Findings are attributed to the court; this record does not add findings of its own.

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Report card

By judgment dated 5 February 2008 in W.A. No. 1018/2006 (against W.P. No. 22366/1993), the Madras High Court (Coram: Elipe Dharma Rao, S.R. Singharavelu, JJ.) returned findings adverse to the Police personnel, and directed payment of compensation of Rs 5 lakh (Rs 5,00,000).

Register number
TN 97 CW 0001
Case reference
W.A. No. 1018/2006 (against W.P. No. 22366/1993) / (2008) 3 MLJ 167
Court and date
Madras High Court (Coram: Elipe Dharma Rao, S.R. Singharavelu, JJ.), 5 February 2008
Officer(s) at the material time
Police personnel
Present service status
Not ascertained from the cited sources.
Provisions invoked
Article 21 of the Constitution of India
Finding of the Court (extract)
“from the said G.O. it is clear that the husband of the petitioner died due to the torture by the police personnel of Veraiyur Police Station and the said conclusion of the Government is sufficient for awarding compensation.” (at para 5)
Verdict, sentence and quantum
Adverse finding + compensation. Sentence: compensation only. Compensation: Rs 5 lakh (Rs 5,00,000).
Present status of the proceedings
No further proceedings are recorded in the cited sources; the judgment is the concluded position shown.

Compiled from the judgment and the cited sources. Findings are those of the court; this card adds none of its own.

The Madras High Court judgment dated 5 February 2008 is the concluded position shown in the cited sources.

Recorded allegations

1
Custodial deathPrimary
Material fact supported

Reliable material supports a specifically documented fact relevant to that allegation, not necessarily the full allegation, causation, intent, unlawfulness, or responsibility.

Official finding: supports allegation.

What the court found

Holding not recorded separately.

“from the said G.O. it is clear that the husband of the petitioner died due to the torture by the police personnel of Veraiyur Police Station and the said conclusion of the Government is sufficient for awarding compensation.” (para 5)

Institutional response

1
5 Feb 2008

Order issued

Concluded
Madras High Court External · Binding

The Madras High Court recorded adverse findings against police personnel and ordered Rs 500,000.

Compensation ordered · Supports allegation (for the compensated wrong only).
Source: (2008) 3 MLJ 167
Not yet re-checked.

Follow-up history

1
19 Sep 2026

(Round-8 full re-verification: published record re-checked against the judgment text (outcome, officers, quote, key facts) plus methodology-compliance pass; skills-guided adversarial re-verification of the published record against the judgment text (reverify/t1-*/adversarial-8.jsonl))

Corrections (0): No corrections recorded.

Review: Solo Staff combined review (one combined attestation) — not yet recorded.

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