Madras High Court appoints one-man commission to probe alleged police excess while quelling Chennai conservancy workers’ protest

Observing that the police can only arrest people for infraction of laws and certainly cannot assault the arrested individuals, the Madras High Court, on Tuesday (September 2, 2025) appointed a one-man commission to probe into allegations of police excesses while quelling the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conservancy workers’ protest outside the Ripon Building recently.

A Division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and V. Lakshminarayanan requested retired High Court judge V. Parthiban to act as a fact-finding, one-man commission to determine whether the police had assaulted the lawyers and law students who were providing legal assistance to the workers protesting against outsourcing of conservancy work in two zones.

Police detained conservancy workers of the Greater Chennai  Corporation who were staging a protest for 13 days outside the Ripon Building in Chennai, on August 14, 2025. Lawyers and law students who supported the protestors were also detained.
| Photo Credit:
Akhila Easwaran

Passing interim orders on a habeas corpus petition filed immediately after the arrest of the lawyers and law students on August 14, the Division Bench said, though it had already ordered the interim release of the arrested persons, it was necessary to find out the events that took place in the wee hours of August 14 when the police swamped down on the protesters.

Since the police and the lawyers had accused each other of indulging in violence, the judges felt it would be appropriate for a retired High Court judge to ascertain the true facts in order to assist the court in passing final orders on the habeas corpus petition. The one-man commission was requested to find out “whether the detenues were assaulted by the police, post their arrest?”

The Member Secretary of Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority was directed to provide a suitable place for the inquiry by the one-man commission and the Registrar (Administration) B. Hari of the High Court was directed to provide sufficient support staff required for the inquiry. The State government was directed to pay initial honorarium of ₹2 lakh to the retired judge through the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police.

The Division Bench further observed that it would be desirable if the one-man commission files its report as expeditiously as possible. The orders were passed after hearing the arguments advanced by advocates M. Radhakrishnan, R. Sankarasubbu and B. Mohan on behalf of the lawyers and law students who were allegedly beaten up by the police after their detention.

Woman lawyer Aarthy and law student Valarmathi appeared before the judges and narrated the brutal attack unleashed on them by the police personnel. They insisted upon a fair inquiry into the entire episode.