Juvenile home staff held for murder of inmate, who they claimed died of food poisoning

Six staff posted at a juvenile reform home in Tamil Nadu’s Chengalpattu have been arrested for their alleged role in the death of a 17-year-old inmate, who had been apprehended by the Tambaram Railway Police around two weeks ago for allegedly trying to steal batteries from the Railway department. Gokul Sree, a resident of West Kannadapalayam in Tambaram, was arrested around 10.30 pm on December 29 and was later handed over to the juvenile home, where he was allegedly beaten to death.

Following an investigation based on a complaint filed by the victim’s mother Priya, Chengalpattu DSP Bharath arrested the six accused staff, identified as Superintendent of Child Welfare Mohan(30), other staff members named Chandrababu(39), Anast Raj(29), Vijayakumar(30), Vidyasagar(33), and Saranraj(36), under Indian Penal Code Section 302 for murder charges on January 14, Saturday.

On January 2, Priya had submitted a petition to the Chengalpattu District Collector’s office, stating that she had suspicions about the circumstances that led to her son Gokul’s death. The juvenile correction facility had first informed her that Gokul had died of food poisoning, which she found hard to believe. The Chengalpattu city police had filed a case under Section 176 (1)(A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) at the time, since the boy had died while he was in judicial custody.

Based on Priya’s complaint, Chengalpattu Judicial Magistrate R Reena conducted an inquiry into the matter. The subsequent investigation spanning 10 days revealed that the boy had died after being hit by a single weapon, leading to the conclusion that this was a custodial death. The six staff were arrested on the basis of the inquiry report.

A mother’s fight for justice

Ever since her husband passed away in 2019, 37-year-old Priya has been supporting her six children alone, by working as a security person in a private firm. After she got to know that Gokul had been arrested for allegedly trying to steal batteries, she visited her son at the Tambaram Railway police station on December 30. As per her complaint to the District Collector, Priya had seen no injuries or marks on Gokul’s body at the time. He also did not tell her that he had faced any kind of torture at the hands of the railway officers, she said in her complaint.

However, just a day later on December 31, she reportedly received a call from the juvenile reform centre informing her that her son had taken ill and was admitted to the Chengalpattu Government Hospital. The officer had also asked her to come to the hospital immediately. “Within 10 minutes, just as I was about to reach the bus stand, I received another call from the same number. They told me that my son was in the emergency unit. In the span of another 10 minutes, I received another call. That was when they told me that my son is no more,” she recalled in her complaint.

According to Priya, the officials at the hospital had denied her entry and refused to allow her to see her son’s body. She was instead asked to stay at the house of one of the staff at the juvenile centre, she said, adding that her phone was also snatched from her and she wasn’t allowed to speak to anyone until the next afternoon.

On the next day, January 1, Priya was finally allowed into the mortuary with two juvenile centre staff, Shanti and Saraswathi, the complaint read. “When I saw Gokul’s body, I noticed that there were injuries on his face. His nose and right wrist had what seemed to be razor cuts. His lower lip was split open. He also had injuries on his upper torso.”

Priya further alleged that the staff had tried to pressure her to not make an issue out of her son’s death. Two days after Gokul’s death, District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) Sivakumar held a ‘compromise’ discussion with her, she said. “The DCPO threatened that my kids will be on the streets if he doesn’t give approval to renew the licence of the hostel in which they were staying. He said even NGOs get funds only if he gives them his nod. He further warned me that I won’t be able to do anything to him,” she recounted in the complaint.

Sivakumar then asked her to sign a blank sheet of paper, Priya said, adding that she refused to do so. She instead rushed from the hospital to the District Collector’s office, where she formally registered a complaint with the collector and the District Revenue Officer.

Finally, with the help of the District Collector, she was able to see her son's body one more time. This time, she also noticed the injuries on Gokul's back, seemingly from a wooden stick. A postmortem was conducted in front of Judicial Magistrate Reena around 11.30 am on January 3, and his body was cremated around 5 pm.

After the accused staff were arrested on Saturday, People's Watch, an NGO seeking justice for victims of custodial torture, took to Twitter to thank the Tamil Nadu government. The NGO, which had earlier released a statement calling for action against the perpetrators, further demanded in the tweet that the DCPO and his aides who tried to cover up the murder should also be arrested.

The NGO’s fact-finding team had inspected the juvenile centre on January 10 and submitted  a report to Chief Minister MK Stalin the next day. They have also demanded an inquiry into the roles of warden Vijayaraj, nurse Nandakumar, and cooks Shanti and Saraswathi in trying to silence the issue. They also urged the government to assure medical care to all children who are in the juvenile centre.

With Warda Zainudheen K