# Sankarankoil Man vs State of Tamil Nadu and Others

HTML version: [https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2009-0003](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2009-0003)

## Report card

By judgment dated 14 March 2009 in W.P. No. 11569 of 1999, the Madras High Court (Coram: P.K. Misra, J., K. Chandru, J., JJ.) returned findings adverse to 6 police personnel, namely: Inspector of Police, Vasudevanallur Police Station; Sub-Inspector of Police, Sankarankoil Police Station; Head Constable, Sankarankoil Police Station; Police Constable Grade I, Sankarankoil Police Station; Police Constable Grade I, Sankarankoil Police Station; Assistant Station Writer, Grade I Constable, Sankarankoil Police Station, and directed payment of compensation of Rs 2 lakh (Rs 2,00,000).

- Register number: TN 76 CW 0002
- Case reference: W.P. No. 11569 of 1999
- Court and date: Madras High Court (Coram: P.K. Misra, J., K. Chandru, J., JJ.), 14 March 2009
- Officer(s) at the material time: Inspector of Police, Vasudevanallur Police Station; Sub-Inspector of Police, Sankarankoil Police Station; Head Constable, Sankarankoil Police Station; Police Constable Grade I, Sankarankoil Police Station; Police Constable Grade I, Sankarankoil Police Station; Assistant Station Writer, Grade I Constable, Sankarankoil Police Station
- Present service status: Not ascertained from the cited sources.
- Provisions invoked: Article 21 of the Constitution of India; Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India; Article 226 of the Constitution of India
- Finding of the Court (extract): “the illegal arrest of Late a Sankarankoil man and lack of care in saving his life while in police custody are sufficiently proved and those findings established here are enough to order compensation by the State” (at para 24)
- Verdict, sentence and quantum: Adverse finding + compensation. Sentence: compensation only. Compensation: Rs 2 lakh (Rs 2,00,000).
- 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/875091/); [Permanent link to this record](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2009-0003)

**Record:** CW-2009-0003 (compiler id CWC-0373); case TAMILN-009
**Title:** Sankarankoil Man vs State of Tamil Nadu and Others
**Court:** Madras High Court; judges: P.K. Misra, J.; K. Chandru, J.
**Case number / citation:** W.P. No. 11569 of 1999
**Judgment:** 2009-03-14 (2009, day precision)
**Incident date:** 1998-09-16 (1998)
**Place:** Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu (district at time: Tirunelveli); city town: Sankarankoil; police station or unit: Sankarankoil Police Station; force: state_police
**Category:** Violence & unlawful detention
**Sub-category:** custodial death
**Outcome:** Adverse finding + compensation (adverse_finding_compensation)
**Sections:** Constitution of India Article 21; Constitution of India Article 22(1); Constitution of India Article 226
**Officers (gated display forms):** Inspector of Police, Vasudevanallur Police Station; Sub-Inspector of Police, Sankarankoil Police Station; Head Constable, Sankarankoil Police Station; Police Constable Grade I, Sankarankoil Police Station; Police Constable Grade I, Sankarankoil Police Station; Assistant Station Writer, Grade I Constable, Sankarankoil Police Station (6 in record)
**Victims:** Sankarankoil man (1 in record)
**Sentence / compensation:** compensation only; Rs 2 lakh (Rs 2,00,000)
**Sentence type:** compensation only (compensation_only)

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court ordered the Government of Tamil Nadu to pay Rs 2,00,000 as compensation for the custodial death of a Sankarankoil man inside the lockup of Sankarankoil Police Station on 16.09.1998. The deceased had been rounded up without arrest entries being recorded in the general diary, in direct breach of Article 22(1) of the Constitution and the Supreme Court's D.K. Basu guidelines. Justices P.K. Misra and K. Chandru held that the illegal arrest and total lack of care in preserving the detainee's life were sufficiently established to impose public law liability upon the State, irrespective of the RDO's preliminary finding of suicide by hanging. The Court directed disbursement of the compensation to the deceased's widow within eight weeks. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.

> the illegal arrest of Late a Sankarankoil man and lack of care in saving his life while in police custody are sufficiently proved and those findings established here are enough to order compensation by the State

**Sources (1):** [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/875091/)
**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:** 24
**display title redacted:** Sankarankoil Man vs State of Tamil Nadu and Others
**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': '2009-03-14', '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 200,000.', 'disposition': 'Compensation ordered · Supports allegation (for the compensated wrong only)', 'source': 'W.P. No. 11569 of 1999', 'recheck': 'Not yet re-checked.'}
**last checked:** 2026-09-19
**link checked per url:** {'url': 'https://indiankanoon.org/doc/875091/', '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:** High Court awarded Rs 2 lakh compensation for lockup death of a Sankarankoil man following illegal arrest by Sankarankoil police.
**verification badge:** V2 · Externally reported
**verification status:** V2
**watch:** babuwatch

Status: Adverse finding + compensation.

[Open CW-2009-0003](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2009-0003)