CHENNAI, Nov 2: The Tamil Nadu Human Rights Commission has blamed the police department particularly the Prohibition Enforcement wing's callousness and corruption for the hooch tragedy in Shoolagiri village in Dharmapuri district last month which claimed over 45 lives.The Commission's chairman Justice Nainar Sundaram who inquired into the deaths has categorically stated that the ``callousness and corruption of the concerned police have come out in clear-cut terms borne out by the factual details''. The tragedy could have been averted if the police had not given a clear leeway to distillation, distribution and sale of illicit arrack in the area, he says.Justice Nainar, in his report to the state government, has recommended that the powers vested with the police which had compounded offences in the incident should be immediately withdrawn as it would encourage corruption. He has also asked the state government to double the compensation paid to the bereaved families in the tragedy.The retired Judge inhis report has said that the ``inaction on the part of the police which went to the extent of making the bootleggers their proteges, all with the motivation to get illegal gratification, was the cause for the tragedy''.The inquiry by the Human Rights Commission has brought to light another shocking fact. The Dharmapuri collector had received a petition against those subsequently accused in the tragedy as early as September 1997, which he forwarded to the district Superintendent of Police on October 20, 1997. Selvam's name figures even in the list of bootleggers maintained in the district collectorate which was also despatched to the SP on February 23 this year, according to the report.``A consolidated list of distillers and sellers of illicit arrack was sent by the Collectorate to the Additional Superintendent of Police (Prohibition Enforcement Wing), Dharmapuri district, by a communication dated July 20 this year despatched on July 28,'' Justice Nainar has said in his report.A copy of the list wassent to the Inspector General of Police (Prohibition Enforcement wing), Chennai, as well on July 28 this year.This apart, the sub-collector of Hosur had received petitions from the Melumalai villagers regarding illicit distillation in their area as early as January this year. The sub-collector had promptly sent it to the Assistant Superintendent of Police for necessary action. ``The petition is not at all traceable in the office of the present Deputy Superintendent of Police, Hosur,'' says the retired Judge.And it does not end there. The sub-collector had forwarded another complaint from Chinnapalli residents on bootlegging activities in their area to the ASP, Dharmapuri. Similarly, another petition form Omedapalli village in March and a complaint form Melumalai in May this year, received by the sub-collector, were despatched to the ASP, who in turn directed the sub-inspector of the area to conduct a raid and report back to him.He goes one step further to state that if the prohibition wing had takenimmediate action on the report, the hooch tragedy would have been averted. As for the Prohibition Enforcement wing's inaction, he says it should be either due to their ``supreme lethargy'' or ``wilful and wanton negligence motivated by corruption''.According to Justice Nainar, the revival of the Prohibition Enforcement wing in Dharmapuri district in July this year ``was a futile process so far as Hosur taluk is concerned''.
