{
 "record_id": "CW-2010-0033",
 "status": "current",
 "merged_id": "CWC-1276",
 "alias_merged_ids": [],
 "display_title": "The Secretary, Home Department and Others vs Damayanthi and Others",
 "display_title_redacted": "The Secretary, Home Department and Others vs Damayanthi and Others",
 "state": "Tamil Nadu",
 "district": "Erode",
 "district_at_time": null,
 "city_town": "Bhavani",
 "police_station_or_unit": "Armed Reserve Police, II Platoon, Erode (escort party)",
 "court": "Madras High Court",
 "court_as_verified": "Madras High Court",
 "bench": null,
 "case_title": "The Secretary, Home Department and Others vs Damayanthi and Others",
 "case_number": "A.S. No.512 of 2010 and M.P. No.1 of 2010 (against O.S. No.35 of 2004, FTC-IV Bhavani)",
 "citation": null,
 "judges": [
  "K. Chandru"
 ],
 "judgment_date": "2010-09-03",
 "date_precision": "day",
 "judgment_year": 2010,
 "incident_date": "1998-04-07",
 "incident_year": 1998,
 "category": "Custodial death",
 "admin_category": "brutality",
 "admin_subcategory": "custodial_death",
 "subcategory": "custodial_death",
 "subcategory_display": "custodial death",
 "protest_override_heuristic": false,
 "outcome_type": "adverse_finding_compensation",
 "sections": [
  "CPC s.96",
  "Constitution Art. 21"
 ],
 "officers": [
  {
   "name": null,
   "rank": "Armed Reserve Constable",
   "unit": "Armed Reserve Police, II Platoon, Erode",
   "role": "held_liable",
   "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": "Armed Reserve Constable, Armed Reserve Police, II Platoon, Erode"
  },
  {
   "name": null,
   "rank": "Armed Reserve Constable",
   "unit": "Armed Reserve Police, II Platoon, Erode",
   "role": "held_liable",
   "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": "Armed Reserve Constable, Armed Reserve Police, II Platoon, Erode"
  }
 ],
 "officer_count": 2,
 "victims": [
  {
   "age": null,
   "gender": "male",
   "name": null,
   "descriptor": "Bhavani man"
  }
 ],
 "victims_redacted": null,
 "anonymised": false,
 "victim_count": 1,
 "sentence_type": "compensation_only",
 "sentence_max_years": null,
 "compensation_inr": 100000,
 "force": "state_police",
 "primary_source_url": "https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1042476/",
 "secondary_sources": [],
 "summary": "Undertrial Jambu @ a Bhavani man (prisoner No.6030, Central Prison Coimbatore) was being escorted back from the JM Court, Bhavani on 7.4.1998 when armed miscreants dragged him from town bus route No.83 at Bhavani Flower Bazaar Junction and murdered him. His family sued for damages alleging negligence of the two Armed Reserve escorts, and the trial court decreed Rs.1 lakh with 7.5% interest against the State and both constables jointly and severally. The Court held an undertrial must be presumed innocent and the State vicariously liable for death caused by the carelessness and negligence of the two named escorts. It dismissed the State's appeal with Rs.10,000 costs, enhancing interest to 12% per annum.",
 "summary_verified": "Undertrial Jambu @ a Bhavani man (prisoner No.6030, Central Prison Coimbatore) was being escorted back from the JM Court, Bhavani on 7.4.1998 when armed miscreants dragged him from town bus route No.83 at Bhavani Flower Bazaar Junction and murdered him. His family sued for damages alleging negligence of the two Armed Reserve escorts, and the trial court decreed Rs.1 lakh with 7.5% interest against the State and both constables jointly and severally. The Court held an undertrial must be presumed innocent and the State vicariously liable for death caused by the carelessness and negligence of the two named escorts. It dismissed the State's appeal with Rs.10,000 costs, enhancing interest to 12% per annum.",
 "court_quote": "Even otherwise, the State having failed to secure the life of the deceased had become vicariously liable for his death which had occurred due to the carelessness and negligence on the part of the two armed escorts, i.e. respondents 5 and 6.",
 "court_quote_para": "20",
 "confidence": "high",
 "verdict": "accept",
 "verdict_note": "HC upheld damages decree for undertrial killed due to negligence of two named armed escorts.",
 "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": "Custodial death",
   "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": "2010-09-03",
   "action_type": "Order issued",
   "status": "Concluded",
   "authority": "Madras High Court",
   "independence": "External",
   "legal_effect": "Binding",
   "description": "The Madras High Court recorded adverse findings against police personnel and ordered Rs 100,000.",
   "disposition": "Compensation ordered · Supports allegation (for the compensated wrong only)",
   "source": "A.S. No.512 of 2010 and M.P. No.1 of 2010 (against O.S. No.35 of 2004, FTC-IV Bhavani)",
   "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://indiankanoon.org/doc/1042476/",
   "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-121"
 ],
 "merged_case_id": "GAP3-85-005",
 "officers_named_public": 0,
 "record_flag": null,
 "service": "police",
 "watch": "babuwatch"
}