# Chennai Man vs The Secretary to Government and Others

HTML version: [https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2009-0033](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2009-0033)

## Report card

By judgment dated 5 November 2009 in W.P. No.12599 of 2009, the Madras High Court (Coram: K. Chandru, J.) returned findings adverse to the Inspector of Police, Central Crime Branch, Chennai, and directed payment of compensation of Rs 3.8 lakh (Rs 3,80,000).

- Register number: TN 01 CW 0007
- Case reference: W.P. No.12599 of 2009
- Court and date: Madras High Court (Coram: K. Chandru, J.), 5 November 2009
- Officer(s) at the material time: Inspector of Police, Central Crime Branch, Chennai
- Present service status: Not ascertained from the cited sources.
- Provisions invoked: Article 226 of the Constitution of India
- Finding of the Court (extract): “The payment of compensation arose out of a tort liability of the State in which the petitioner also had a joint responsibility in compensating for such tortious acts.” (at para 9)
- Verdict, sentence and quantum: Adverse finding + compensation. Sentence: compensation only. Compensation: Rs 3.8 lakh (Rs 3,80,000).
- 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/1478506/); [Permanent link to this record](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2009-0033)

**Record:** CW-2009-0033 (compiler id CWC-1284); case GAP3-85-013
**Title:** Chennai Man vs The Secretary to Government and Others
**Court:** Madras High Court; judges: K. Chandru
**Case number / citation:** W.P. No.12599 of 2009
**Judgment:** 2009-11-05 (2009, day precision)
**Incident date:** 1993-06-22 (1993)
**Place:** Chennai, Tamil Nadu; city town: Chennai; police station or unit: E-2 Royapettah Police Station; force: state_police
**Category:** Violence & unlawful detention
**Sub-category:** custodial death
**Outcome:** Adverse finding + compensation (adverse_finding_compensation)
**Sections:** Constitution Art.226
**Officers (gated display forms):** Inspector of Police, Central Crime Branch, Chennai (1 in record)
**Victims:** Chennai man (1 in record)
**Sentence / compensation:** compensation only; Rs 3.8 lakh (Rs 3,80,000)
**Sentence type:** compensation only (compensation_only)

The judgment of the Madras High Court records the following account. Inspector challenged the recovery of Rs.76,000 from his salary toward the Rs.3.8 lakh compensation paid to Tmt. Meena for the 1993 custodial death of her husband \[name withheld\] at the E-2 Royapettah lock-up. The court found that the earlier compensation order fixing joint tort responsibility on five policemen, with liberty to recover from them, had become final without appeal and after hearing him. The court held that neither his criminal acquittal nor the quashing of departmental proceedings could defeat the tort recovery. The writ petition was dismissed with no costs. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.

> The payment of compensation arose out of a tort liability of the State in which the petitioner also had a joint responsibility in compensating for such tortious acts.

**Sources (1):** [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1478506/)
**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:** 9
**display title redacted:** Chennai Man vs The Secretary to Government 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': '2009-11-05', '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 380,000.', 'disposition': 'Compensation ordered · Supports allegation (for the compensated wrong only)', 'source': 'W.P. No.12599 of 2009', 'recheck': 'Not yet re-checked.'}
**last checked:** 2026-09-19
**link checked per url:** {'url': 'https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1478506/', '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:** HC dismissed Inspector's writ; upheld Rs.76,000 salary recovery toward Rs.3.8 lakh custodial-death compensation.
**verification badge:** V2 · Externally reported
**verification status:** V2
**watch:** babuwatch

Status: Adverse finding + compensation.

[Open CW-2009-0033](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2009-0033)