As the DMK government-appointed committee has prepared the final report regarding the Sterlite police firing in Thoothukodi, former AIADMK minister Jayakumar has questioned how the document was made available to the media. On August 20, The Frontline magazine published an article providing details of the 3,000-page report, which named top police officers as responsible for the deaths of the 13 protesters in 2018. According to the article, the report has dismissed the claim by the AIADMK government, which was in power when the incident happened, that the protests had turned violent.
In a statement on Sunday, August 21, Jayakumar alleged that the DMK government released the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission report to the media, to divert attention from the other issues that the party is facing. He claimed that Chief Minister MK Stalin was “staging a drama” and asked how a media outlet got the government’s “secret document”. “Did those who rule the state leak the information to the English magazine? Or is the government not capable of protecting its secrets? These are some of the doubts in the minds of the public,” he said in his statement.
He also alleged that those working at The Frontline are relatives of MK Stalin, and demanded that the person who “leaked” the report be arrested. He further demanded the resignation of CM Stalin over the issue.
The Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission, set up by the DMK government, submitted its final report on May 18, 2022. The government has six months from that date to table the report in the Assembly. Soon after the Frontline report was published, Tamil Nadu Law Minister S Regupathy said that the Aruna Jagadeesan Commission report would be tabled soon. The minister said the report has been sent to the “relevant departments and legal experts for consideration” and that the full report would be tabled on the floor of the house after obtaining their response. The Frontline article quotes the report as saying that the firing was “unprovoked” and that police had fired at “fleeing protestors”.
AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran has also reacted in the issue and alleged that the “silence maintained by the government on the report without releasing the same” was causing suspicion.
“The DMK government's silence on the brutal shooting of 13 people in the Thoothukudi Sterlite protests by Justice Aruna Jegatheesan, without releasing the report, raises serious concerns.
Is it true that many police officers have been accused in the report and that the DMK government is trying to save them? What will Mr Stalin, the Chief Minister, who is in control of the police, answer to this? If we want justice for those who were unjustly killed in the Thoothukudi firing, the investigation report should be published in full and the accused should be booked and action should be taken. Will the DMK government do this? Or are they going to play a double role in this issue as usual?,” he said in a series of tweets.
தூத்துக்குடி ஸ்டெர்லைட் போராட்டத்தில் 13 பேர் கொடூரமாக சுட்டுக்கொல்லப்பட்டது குறித்த நீதிபதி அருணா ஜெகதீசன் அவர்களின் விசாரணை அறிக்கையை வெளியிடாமல் தி.மு.க அரசு மௌனம் காப்பது பலத்த சந்தேகத்தை ஏற்படுத்துகிறது. (1/4)@CMOTamilnadu
— TTV Dhinakaran (@TTVDhinakaran) August 21, 2022