MADURAI: A Division Bench of the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court declared a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking action against the Sathankulam judicial magistrate, who remanded the alleged custodial death victims -- Jeyaraj and son Beniks -- in judicial custody, as 'not maintainable'.
The Bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam pointed out that the case is a service matter (cases filed by or against a public servant) and cannot be heard as a PIL. Moreover, the investigation pertaining to the death of the aforementioned traders is still going on and if the magistrate is found to be at fault, then appropriate action will be initiated, the judges added and held that the PIL is not maintainable.
The PIL was filed by an advocate, R Rajiv Gandhi. According to him, the Judicial magistrate of Sathankulam should not have remanded the duo in custody. He failed to note their injuries and remanded them, Gandhi added. He had sent a representation to the Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Registrar General of the court and Additional Registrar General of the Madurai Bench on June 25, 2020, seeking action against the magistrate. Since no action was taken, he approached the court with the PIL. The Registry had listed the PIL before the said Bench for deciding on its maintainability.