# Poothalur Man vs State of Tamil Nadu and Others

HTML version: [https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2016-0035](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2016-0035)

## Report card

By judgment dated 16 December 2016 in W.P.(MD) No.9606 of 2010, the Madras High Court (Coram: M.V. Muralidaran, J.) returned findings adverse to 3 police personnel, namely: Sub-Inspector of Police, Highway Patrol, Thanjavur District; Sub-Inspector of Police, PCR Wing, Nagapattinam District; Head Constable, Thirukkattupalli Police Station, Thanjavur District, and directed payment of compensation of Rs 3 lakh (Rs 3,00,000).

- Register number: TN 49 CW 0006
- Case reference: W.P.(MD) No.9606 of 2010
- Court and date: Madras High Court (Coram: M.V. Muralidaran, J.), 16 December 2016
- Officer(s) at the material time: Sub-Inspector of Police, Highway Patrol, Thanjavur District; Sub-Inspector of Police, PCR Wing, Nagapattinam District; Head Constable, Thirukkattupalli Police Station, Thanjavur District
- Present service status: Not ascertained from the cited sources.
- Provisions invoked: Article 226 of the Constitution of India; Article 21 of the Constitution of India; Section 357-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
- Finding of the Court (extract): “The offenders who assaulted the petitioner's son were not prosecuted by the State since the State did not investigate the case properly in Crime Number: 81 of 2008 on the file of the Poothalur Police Station.” (at para 15)
- Verdict, sentence and quantum: Adverse finding + compensation. Sentence: compensation only. Compensation: Rs 3 lakh (Rs 3,00,000).
- 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/82698772/); [Permanent link to this record](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2016-0035)

**Record:** CW-2016-0035 (compiler id CWC-0850); case GAP2-39-002
**Title:** Poothalur Man vs State of Tamil Nadu and Others
**Court:** Madras High Court; bench: Madurai; judges: M.V. Muralidaran
**Case number / citation:** W.P.(MD) No.9606 of 2010
**Judgment:** 2016-12-16 (2016, day precision)
**Incident date:** 2008-04-01 (2008)
**Place:** Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu; city town: Poothalur; police station or unit: Poothalur Police Station; force: state_police
**Category:** Other misconduct
**Sub-category:** dereliction evidence tampering
**Outcome:** Adverse finding + compensation (adverse_finding_compensation)
**Sections:** Constitution Art 226; Constitution Art 21; CrPC 357-A
**Officers (gated display forms):** Sub-Inspector of Police, Highway Patrol, Thanjavur District; Sub-Inspector of Police, PCR Wing, Nagapattinam District; Head Constable, Thirukkattupalli Police Station, Thanjavur District (3 in record)
**Victims:** Poothalur man (1 in record)
**Sentence / compensation:** compensation only; Rs 3 lakh (Rs 3,00,000)
**Sentence type:** compensation only (compensation_only)

The judgment of the Madras High Court records the following account. Bhanumathi petitioned under Article 226 for her son \[name withheld\], who sustained a head injury needing eight stitches around 20-21 April 2008 and was then booked in a theft case (Crime No.80/2008, Poothalur P.S.) while his own assault complaint (Crime No.81/2008) was closed without proper investigation. The court found his injuries undisputed (admitted in R4's counter and medical records, para 7), held it had reason to believe respondents 4-11 were involved in the assault, and faulted SI for pursuing only the theft case while purposely omitting all evidence-gathering in Crime No.81/2008 (para 15). Relying on Nilabati Behera, D.K. Basu, Rini Johar and T. Sekaran, the court allowed the writ and directed the State to pay Selvaraj Rs.3,00,000 with 6% p.a. interest from 19.07.2010 within six weeks. It held the State vicariously liable for the Article 21 violation and noted the victim could also claim under the s.357-A CrPC Victim Compensation Scheme. Respondents 1-3 and R4 denied the allegations and questioned maintainability (para 8). Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.

> The offenders who assaulted the petitioner's son were not prosecuted by the State since the State did not investigate the case properly in Crime Number: 81 of 2008 on the file of the Poothalur Police Station.

**Sources (1):** [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/82698772/)
**Verification:** V2 · Externally reported
**Review:** Solo Staff combined review (one combined attestation) — not yet recorded
**admin category:** misconduct
**admin subcategory:** dereliction_evidence_tampering
**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'}
**anonymised:** False
**court quote para:** 15
**display title redacted:** Poothalur 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': \['summary'\]}
**followup status:** checked
**institutional response:** {'date': '2016-12-16', '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 300,000.', 'disposition': 'Compensation ordered · Supports allegation (for the compensated wrong only)', 'source': 'W.P.(MD) No.9606 of 2010', 'recheck': 'Not yet re-checked.'}
**last checked:** 2026-09-19
**link checked per url:** {'url': 'https://indiankanoon.org/doc/82698772/', 'link_checked': None}
**retracted:** {"is_retracted": false}
**service:** police
**source assessment:** {"established": null, "basis": null}
**status:** current
**subcategory display:** dereliction evidence tampering
**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:** Compensation Rs.3L with 6% interest ordered; court found police assault involvement and investigative failure.
**verification badge:** V2 · Externally reported
**verification status:** V2
**watch:** babuwatch

Status: Adverse finding + compensation.

[Open CW-2016-0035](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2016-0035)