Senseless deaths: On Tamil Nadu custodial deaths

Even for a country as inured to custodial violence as India, the death of a father-son duo detained for a lockdown offense in Tamil Nadu is distressingly senseless. P. Jayaraj, 58, a timber trader, and his child, J. Benicks, 31, who ran a smart phone service and sales centre, were apprehended for apparently keeping their outlets open after allowed hours at Sattankulam town in Thoothukudi district and remanded to judicial custody. The cops claim they took ill on successive days while being lodged in a sub-jail and breathed their last in hospital. In a speedy action, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which took suo motu cognisance of their death, has actually decided to keep track of the development of the statutory magisterial probe. It has actually asked for a status report from the police and also directed that the autopsy be video-graphed. Chief Minister E