Three families belonging to the kurava community from Madurai were tortured by the Kanyakumari police during illegal detention for 63 days, NGO People's Watch said.
According to The Times of India, these families, which had gone to Kanyakumari to earn a living by doing odd jobs like sharpening household tools, were picked up on April 29. They were tortured, sexually harassed for over two months and forced to admit to theft crimes they reportedly did not commit, the NGO said.
A special crime team picked up 14 people, including five children below 12 years and four women, and locked them up in the Thuckalay police station.
According to the NGO, the men were chained and hung upside down and beat in front of their wives and children. The women were made to strip partially and forced to beat their husband using lathis; the children's heads were tonsured and they were told that final rites were being conducted for their fathers.
Henri Tiphagne, executive director of People's Watch, urged the government to immediately release a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to Selvaraj, whose leg was broken in the police torture, and Rs 2 lakh for others who underwent the torture.
The police have denied the allegations: Kanyakumari superintendent of police G Dharmarajan, who is now on leave and away attending a family function, told TOI: “I can explain after I return. What People's Watch is saying is all factually wrong. There has been no such detention.