The Rise of Police Brutality in India: Justice for Jayaraj and Fenix

Police brutality is a terrible crime. It’s not just isolated incidents perpetrated by few bad apples, but a systemic rot fueled by unchecked power and a glaring lack of accountability. It’s a tragedy when our protectors turn into oppressors.

According to stats, 1,730 custodial deaths are happening every year in India. That means an average of five die every day.

One of such custodial deaths has sparked massive outrage in Tamil Nadu and social media against police brutality. The news of custodial deaths of a father-son duo in police custody in the Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu has brought the nation face to face with its own George Floyd moment.

Black Lives Matter is a convenient stance because it does not question about the lack of sensitivity in our own country. Jayaraj and his son Fenix Emmanuel were allegedly brutally assaulted by the Sathakulam police, apparently because they kept their mobile shop open beyond the permitted time due to lockdown.

June 19, which started as a normal workday for 31-year-old Fenix, the owner of a mobile phone shop in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu, turned out to be the starting point of a fatal ordeal.

Though many questions remain unanswered, but according to multiple eyewitnesses, on Friday, June 19, the Sathankulam police had picked up Jayaraj and taken him to the police station to conduct an inquiry about an altercation that had allegedly taken place between the police and a few others the previous day.

Fenix and the friend rushed to the police station to check on his father. When Fenix went inside and questioned why they had assaulted his father, he was allegedly attacked by the police too. Fenix’s friends were not allowed to meet Fenix or his father until June 20. Three days later, on June 23, the duo had died at the Kovilpatti Government Hospital

According to the version of events by police, the shop was open after the curfew time imposed by the district administration due to lockdown. Jayaraj, his son Fenix and a few other friends were standing outside the shop. We told them to disperse. While others went away, Jayaraj and Fenix sat on the ground and abused us verbally and rolled on the ground. In this, they suffered internal injuries. They told us that if we compelled them to leave, they will beat us and kill us, the FIR stated.

However, eyewitnesses said that Fenix and his father were not brought to the station together, and that the son was arrested later.

Percy, Jayaraj’s daughter, told media that the policemen had pushed her father by his neck to the floor and beaten him. Police thrashed them both for almost two hours. They had been bleeding so profusely, that they had to change as many as six lungis as each one was drenched in blood. She also claimed that the cops inserted metal objects in their rectum.

The Sathankulam police history of custodial violence

Mahendran was unlawfully taken into custody and beaten badly by the Sathankulam police in connection with an investigation of a crime. He was not even an accused. Some people have maimed for life, people who have been disabled [due to torture]. Their entire life has changed just because someone thought it was okay to use violence on a common person to establish his authority. We always think it is okay to beat criminals, or even shoot them. In our movies also, if the hero is a police officer, he has every right to kill. Why is this not part of our narrative anywhere?

Senior Advocate Forum passed a resolution and said that the magistrate who remanded them in judicial custody, the duty doctor who issued the fitness certificate, as well as the jailor, have all failed in their duties and contributed to the tragedy.

While Madras High Court has transferred the probe to the CB-CID, five deaths/ day is certainly not a small number. We cannot afford to ignore it. This incident exposes a lack of respect for the rule of law and loss of public confidence in the administration. Let us all come together and fight for justice as justice delayed is justice denied! #JusticeForJayarajAndFenix