# The Secretary, Ministry of Railways & The General Manager, Southern Railway v. Smt. S. Santhanamary & Ors.

HTML version: [https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2004-0010](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2004-0010)

## Report card

By judgment dated 22 April 2004 in Writ Appeal No. 852 of 2002, the Madras High Court (Coram: P. K. Misra, A. S. Venkatachala Moorthy, JJ.) returned findings adverse to the accused police personnel, and directed payment of compensation of Rs 1 lakh (Rs 1,00,000).

- Register number: TN 01 CW 0002
- Case reference: Writ Appeal No. 852 of 2002 / (2004) 04 MAD CK 0035
- Court and date: Madras High Court (Coram: P. K. Misra, A. S. Venkatachala Moorthy, JJ.), 22 April 2004
- Officer(s) at the material time: Not identified in the cited sources (Tondiarpet Marshalling Yard RPF Station)
- Present service status: Not ascertained from the cited sources.
- Provisions invoked: Article 21 of the Constitution of India
- Finding of the Court (extract): “In the absence of any prima facie acceptable material, the inevitable conclusion is that the deceased must have died on account of torture.” (at para 15)
- Verdict, sentence and quantum: Adverse finding + compensation. Sentence: compensation only. Compensation: Rs 1 lakh (Rs 1,00,000).
- Present status of the proceedings: No further proceedings are recorded in the cited sources; the judgment is the concluded position shown.
- Source orders: [Judgment / order (primary source)](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/362443/); [Permanent link to this record](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2004-0010)

**Record:** CW-2004-0010 (compiler id CWC-0828); case GAP2-37-001
**Title:** The Secretary, Ministry of Railways & The General Manager, Southern Railway v. Smt. S. Santhanamary & Ors.
**Court:** Madras High Court; judges: P. K. Misra; A. S. Venkatachala Moorthy
**Case number / citation:** Writ Appeal No. 852 of 2002 / (2004) 04 MAD CK 0035
**Judgment:** 2004-04-22 (2004, day precision)
**Incident date:** 1991-09-01 (1991)
**Place:** Chennai, Tamil Nadu; city town: Chennai; police station or unit: Tondiarpet Marshalling Yard RPF Station; force: railway
**Category:** Violence & unlawful detention
**Sub-category:** custodial death
**Outcome:** Adverse finding + compensation (adverse_finding_compensation)
**Sections:** Constitution Art. 21
**Officers (gated display forms):** None named
**Victims:** Chennai man, age 28 (1 in record)
**Sentence / compensation:** compensation only; Rs 1 lakh (Rs 1,00,000)
**Sentence type:** compensation only (compensation_only)

On 22 April 2004 a Division Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed the Railways' writ appeal and upheld a single judge's direction to pay Rs. 1,00,000 compensation for a custodial death. The deceased, aged about 28, was apprehended by the Railway Protection Force around 00:30 on 1 September 1991, secured in the Tondiarpet Marshalling Yard RPF lock-up at 04:30, and found dead at 05:00. The court found on a preponderance of probabilities that he died on account of torture, rejecting the natural-death defence where no inquest or post-mortem material was preserved or produced. Rs. 50,000 already disbursed was adjusted against the award, with the balance payable with 9% interest. Individual RPF personnel were not identified in the judgment. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.

> In the absence of any prima facie acceptable material, the inevitable conclusion is that the deceased must have died on account of torture.

**Sources (2):** [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/362443/); [courtkutchehry.com](https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/15791/the-secretary-ministry-of-railways-and-the-general-manager/)
**Verification:** V2 · Externally reported
**Review:** Solo Staff combined review (one combined attestation) — not yet recorded
**admin category:** brutality
**admin subcategory:** custodial_death
**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'}
**anonymised:** False
**court quote para:** 15
**display title redacted:** The Secretary, Ministry of Railways & The General Manager, Southern Railway v. Smt. S. Santhanamary & Ors.
**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
**institutional response:** {'date': '2004-04-22', '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': '(2004) 04 MAD CK 0035', 'recheck': 'Not yet re-checked.'}
**last checked:** 2026-09-19
**link checked per url:** {'url': 'https://indiankanoon.org/doc/362443/', 'link_checked': None}; {'url': 'https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/15791/the-secretary-ministry-of-railways-and-the-general-manager/', 'link_checked': None}
**retracted:** {"is_retracted": false}
**service:** police
**source assessment:** {"established": null, "basis": null}
**status:** current
**subcategory display:** custodial death
**tier:** Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded
**tier badge:** Externally reported
**tier history:** Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded
**verdict:** accept
**verdict note:** Division Bench judgment verified via mirror; torture finding and Rs.1 lakh award upheld.
**verification badge:** V2 · Externally reported
**verification status:** V2
**watch:** babuwatch

Status: Adverse finding + compensation.

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