CHENNAI: What do a dhobi, a tailor, the owner of an eatout and an employee in a chicken shop - all in Thiruvanmiyur - have in common other than locality? Virtually strangers to one another, they were all recently brought together by city cops who allegedly booked them under false charges of creating a public nuisance by ganging up and pelting stones on passing vehicles near Jayanthi Theatre at Thiruvanmiyur junction in broad daylight. Bharath (29), the tailor, Rajkumar (56), the dhobi, V Rahim (31) owner of a briyani shop in Shastri Nagar, and Thulasiraman (35) of Tiruvannamalai, who works in a Thiruvanmiyur chicken shop were all booked under a public nuisance case on June 3. A local court later remanded them in three days of judicial custody.“We were beaten up by the police and had to spend three days in jail. This has caused us shame and embarassment in our local community. We are not able to talk freely with our neighbours,” the quartet told Express.According to them, around 10 pm on June 3, Bharath was having a smoke near a parked auto in Lakshmipuram, Thiruvanmiyur, while Rajkumar, whose laundry was adjacent to Bharath’s tailoring unit and who knows Bharath, was standing on the road.“Suddenly, a police vehicle came down the street and we were asked to get into it. When we hesitated, the Thiruvanmiyur station inspector Senthil Kumar beat us and forced us into the vehicle,” Bharath and Rajakumar claimed. They also said the policemen even damaged the parked autorickshaw before leaving.A few hours later that night, the police picked up Rahim, who was cleaning vessels after closing his briyani shop near Tidel Park and brought him to the station. Senthil Kumar allegedly beat him up and the three were forced to stay at the station the whole night.The following morning, police picked up Thulasiraman as he was delivering chicken at a wine shop.“Despite me telling the police that I was not an employee of the wine shop and had only gone there to deliver the chicken, they beat me up and took me to the station,” Thulasiraman said.He immediately called his employer R Ramu. “I tried to explain to the inspector that Thulasiraman works in my shop but the police did not allow us inside the station till that evening,” Ramu said.By evening, the four of them had been booked for creating a public nuisance and were produced before the XVIII Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Saidapet, according to K Elangovan, Senior Advocate of Madras High Court, who represented one of them.Apart from spending four days in jail, the four now have to visit the police station for a full month and mark their presence as they were all released on conditional bail.“Our livelihood has been affected as we need to spend at least two hours a day for this. Sometimes, the police officer in the station makes us wait for more than an hour before taking our signatures,” they informed Express.When Express contacted inspector Senthil Kumar, he denied having booked the four under false charges.According to him, they had been causing a public nuisance under the influence of alcohol near the Jayanthi Theatre signal.However, when asked if he had conducted a breathalyser test on them, inspector Senthil Kumar said that was not necessary in this case as they had been booked for causing a nuisance in broad daylight.“Normally, police let go off such offenders after collecting a fine. They are levelling charges against me because I had them remanded,” Senthil Kumar claimed.
Comments
0 comment