Madras HC orders to drop 2018 Sterlite protest cases

Chennai: Madras High Court on Monday directed the authorities concerned to drop all the cases registered against the protesters involved in the anti-Sterlite agitation in 2018, in which 13 people were killed in alleged police firing, and ensure their future prospects.

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam also orally observed that firing upon the innocent public was a scar on Indian democracy and it should not be forgotten.

The protest might not have been legal or legitimate, but citizens could not be fired at on behalf of a corporate body. The State should ensure that this kind of an incident does not happen again, it added.

“The cases against the protesters should be dropped and the institution of the cases should not stand in the way of the future prospects of any of the protesters to disqualify them from any employment or other opportunities that may be available,” the bench said.

The bench was passing further interim orders on a PIL petition from Henry Tiphagne, executive director of the NGO People’s Watch, on Monday.

Protests by locals against Vedanta’s copper unit Sterlite in Tuticorin over pollution concerns on May 22, 2018, had ended in 13 deaths in police firing