{ "record_id": "CW-2010-0020", "status": "current", "merged_id": "CWC-0834", "alias_merged_ids": [], "display_title": "Salem Man, [name withheld] and [name withheld] v. National Human Rights Commission and State of Tamil Nadu", "display_title_redacted": "Salem Man, [name withheld] and [name withheld] v. National Human Rights Commission and State of Tamil Nadu", "state": "Tamil Nadu", "district": "Salem", "district_at_time": null, "city_town": "Salem", "police_station_or_unit": "Strong-room guard, Mohan Kumaramangalam Government Medical College Hospital", "court": "Madras High Court", "court_as_verified": "Madras High Court", "bench": null, "case_title": "Salem Man, [name withheld] and [name withheld] v. National Human Rights Commission and State of Tamil Nadu", "case_number": "W.P. Nos. 27281 to 27283 of 2009", "citation": "(2010) 01 MAD CK 0048", "judges": [ "K. Chandru" ], "judgment_date": "2010-01-05", "date_precision": "day", "judgment_year": 2010, "incident_date": "2000-12-24", "incident_year": 2000, "category": "Other", "admin_category": "misconduct", "admin_subcategory": "custodial_death", "subcategory": "custodial_death", "subcategory_display": "custodial death", "protest_override_heuristic": false, "outcome_type": "disciplinary_upheld", "sections": [ "Constitution Art 21", "Constitution Art 226", "Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 s.18(3)" ], "officers": [ { "name": null, "rank": "Head Constable", "role": "held_liable", "unit": "Control Room", "publish_grade": "unnamed", "gate_reasons": [ "ledger:no_row", "key2:no_row" ], "ledger_role": null, "key2": null, "key2_agy": null, "key2_claude": null, "key2_union": null, "key2_gemapi": null, "key2_openrouter": null, "key2_gpt56": null, "grok": null, "jev_risk": null, "jev_p_culpable": null, "key2_gpt": null, "later_outcome": null, "name_public": null, "display": "Head Constable, Control Room" }, { "name": null, "rank": "Grade-I Police Constable", "role": "held_liable", "unit": "Central Crime Branch", "publish_grade": "unnamed", "gate_reasons": [ "ledger:no_row", "key2:no_row" ], "ledger_role": null, "key2": null, "key2_agy": null, "key2_claude": null, "key2_union": null, "key2_gemapi": null, "key2_openrouter": null, "key2_gpt56": null, "grok": null, "jev_risk": null, "jev_p_culpable": null, "key2_gpt": null, "later_outcome": null, "name_public": null, "display": "Grade-I Police Constable, Central Crime Branch" }, { "name": null, "rank": "Grade-I Police Constable", "role": "held_liable", "unit": "Fainance Police Station", "publish_grade": "unnamed", "gate_reasons": [ "ledger:no_row", "key2:no_row" ], "ledger_role": null, "key2": null, "key2_agy": null, "key2_claude": null, "key2_union": null, "key2_gemapi": null, "key2_openrouter": null, "key2_gpt56": null, "grok": null, "jev_risk": null, "jev_p_culpable": null, "key2_gpt": null, "later_outcome": null, "name_public": null, "display": "Grade-I Police Constable, Fainance Police Station" } ], "officer_count": 3, "victims": [ { "name": null, "age": null, "gender": "male", "descriptor": "Salem man" } ], "victims_redacted": null, "anonymised": false, "victim_count": 1, "sentence_type": "mixed", "sentence_max_years": null, "compensation_inr": 50000, "force": "state_police", "primary_source_url": "https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/29077/a-sundaram-n-sidhan-and-p-jayavel-appellant-hash-national-human-rights-commission-and-state-of-t/", "secondary_sources": [ "https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/29077/pdf/" ], "summary": "The judgment of the Madras High Court records the following account. Remand prisoner a Salem man hanged himself on 24 December 2000 in the strong room of Mohan Kumaramangalam Government Medical College Hospital, Salem, while the three petitioner-policemen were in charge of the guard. The RDO enquiry under PSO 145 and the NHRC found the death in judicial custody was due to the negligence of the strong-room police personnel, and the State paid Rs.50,000 interim compensation to the next of kin. The State ordered recovery of the amount from the three policemen in instalments along with a departmental warning. The court dismissed their writ petitions, holding the States pecuniary loss recoverable from those responsible, with liberty to seek refund if the pending NHRC proceedings exonerate them.", "summary_verified": "Remand prisoner a Salem man hanged himself on 24 December 2000 in the strong room of Mohan Kumaramangalam Government Medical College Hospital, Salem, while the three petitioner-policemen were in charge of the guard. The RDO enquiry under PSO 145 and the NHRC found the death in judicial custody was due to the negligence of the strong-room police personnel, and the State paid Rs.50,000 interim compensation to the next of kin. The State ordered recovery of the amount from the three policemen in instalments along with a departmental warning. The court dismissed their writ petitions, holding the States pecuniary loss recoverable from those responsible, with liberty to seek refund if the pending NHRC proceedings exonerate them.", "court_quote": "Therefore, there is no difficulty for the respondents in ordering recovery, since payment of interim compensation was a loss to the State. Such a pecuniary loss can always be directed to be recovered from the persons, who are responsible.", "court_quote_para": "13", "confidence": "high", "verdict": "accept", "verdict_note": "Madras HC (K. Chandru, J.) dismissed W.P. 27281-27283/2009: recovery of Rs.50,000 compensation from salaries of 3 negligent policemen upheld.", "verification_status": "V2", "verification_badge": "V2 · Externally reported", "tier_badge": "Externally reported", "tier": "Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded", "tier_history": [ "Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded" ], "allegations": [ { "category": "Other", "primary": true, "position": "Material fact supported", "position_explainer": "Reliable material supports a specifically documented fact relevant to that allegation, not necessarily the full allegation, causation, intent, unlawfulness, or responsibility.", "official_finding_relation": "supports allegation" } ], "institutional_response": [ { "date": "2010-01-05", "action_type": "Order issued", "status": "Concluded", "authority": "Madras High Court", "independence": "External", "legal_effect": "Binding", "description": "The Madras High Court upheld service punishment imposed on police personnel.", "disposition": "Disciplinary action · Procedural only", "source": "(2010) 01 MAD CK 0048", "recheck": "Not yet re-checked." } ], "later_proceedings": [], "final_outcome_url": null, "followup_history": [ { "date": "2026-09-19", "scope": "Round-8 full re-verification: published record re-checked against the judgment text (outcome, officers, quote, key facts) plus methodology-compliance pass", "method": "skills-guided adversarial re-verification of the published record against the judgment text (reverify/t1-*/adversarial-8.jsonl)", "result": "holds", "corrections_applied": [] } ], "followup_status": "checked", "last_checked": "2026-09-19", "link_checked_per_url": [ { "url": "https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/29077/a-sundaram-n-sidhan-and-p-jayavel-appellant-hash-national-human-rights-commission-and-state-of-t/", "link_checked": null }, { "url": "https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/29077/pdf/", "link_checked": null } ], "source_assessment": { "established": null, "basis": null }, "v3_basis": null, "publication_basis": null, "reviews": [], "retracted": { "is_retracted": false }, "fidelity_checked": true, "verified_by": [ "chunk-66" ], "merged_case_id": "GAP2-38-007", "officers_named_public": 0, "record_flag": null, "service": "police", "watch": "babuwatch" }