Anti-Sterlite protests: Madras HC directs Tamil Nadu govt to submit videos, intelligence report related to Tuticorin police firing

Madurai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to submit all videos related to the police firing and violence during the anti-Sterlite protests in Tuticorin along with the intelligence report on the prolonged agitation. [caption id=“attachment_4352103” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Justices CT Selvam and AM Basheer Ahamed of the Madurai Bench directed that the intelligence report regarding the 99-day long agitation be furnished in a sealed cover and posted the matter to 23 July. Hearing a PIL which submitted that a total of 243 cases had been filed regarding the firing and violence, the bench asked why all of them could not be clubbed together. The agitation by locals seeking closure of the Sterlite’s copper smelter unit turned violent on the 100th day, leading to police firing that left 13 people dead on 22 and 23 May. In all, 15 petitions have been filed in the high court in connection with the police firing and violence and all of them had been transferred to the division bench in Madurai. In the latest public interest litigation, petitioner John Vincent sought a direction to club all 243 cases. The government advocate opposed the plea, saying the petitioner was not connected with the Tuticorin incidents.