Even as charges and counter-allegations are marring the issue of violence that happened in Thoothukudi earlier this year during anti-Sterlite protest, the CBI has taken over the probe into the police firing during the agitation that claimed 13 lives. It may be recalled that acting on a batch of petitions related to the police firing, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had 14 August asked the premier investigative agency to probe the incident.
Now that the central agency has taken over the investigation, it is hoped that a thorough and neutral probe would be conducted and the wrong-doers would be brought to book. Earlier, the Tamilnadu police, who themselves are facing allegations in the issue, were probing the case, raising doubts about the way the investigations would be done.
While looking into the case, the CBI officials should have in mind the following words uttered by the High Court while transferring the case to them. The division bench of justices C T Selvam and Basheer Ahmed had said: “It can hardly be expected that any investigation either into the wrongdoings of the protesters or of the police or administration would inspire confidence if entrusted to agencies of this State. Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion and not only must justice be done, it must also be seen to be done.”