Jaya defends Paramakudi cop firing

Published on Deccan Chronicle   October 1, 2011

(Madurai collector U. Sagayam being briefed at the Government Rajaji general hospital about the condition of two dalit youths, Balakrishnan and Prasath, who were injured in the police firing on Sunday.)

Defending the police firing at Paramakudi in Ramanthapuram district in which four persons were killed on Sunday, chief minister Jayalalithaa said the police acted in self-defence and to quell the violence unleashed “by a few persons for their own political gains”. 

She also announced Rs 1 lakh compensation from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to the next of kin of those killed. 

“The protesters indulged in large-scale violence and torched police vehicles. Police opened fire in self-defence and to protect public property as they threw petrol bombs and pelted stones. Unfortunately three were killed in the firing,” she said in a statement here. 

Ms Jayalalithaa said in the violence, Ramanathapuram DIG Sandeep Mittal, Pramakudi DSP Ganesh and Inspector Athisaya Raj were among those injured. 

She said, “It was highly condemnable for such an incident to have taken place, “disrupting law and order for the political gains of some persons” and appealed that none should indulge in violence.

Jayalalithaa said entry of Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam founder John Pandian was banned in Ramanathapuram district to maintain law and order. 

“Since Mr. Pandian defied the order and proceeded to Paramakudi where the memorial of Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran was located, he was arrested in Vallanadu in Tuticorin, she said. 

The chief minister said his supporters blocked traffic in five-corner junction in Paramakudi to bring vehicle movement to a halt. The police fired tear gas shells to disperse the agitating protesters. 

In Madurai, the police inspector fired at the protestors in Chinthamani junction in self-defence when they tried to attack him, she said adding that two persons were injured in t he incident.