"PRESS RELEASE: Evidence Suggests Malafide Intent and Murder, says Inquest Report into Thoothukudi Police Violence", 15 July 2018

Citing evidence pointing to violation of Standard Operating Procedures, a total breakdown of civilian authority and possible malafide intent and murder, a 23-member team of retired judges, senior bureaucrats and police officers, and social activists have called for a full administrative and criminal investigations into the 22 May 2018 Thoothukudi police firings and violence that resulted in the deaths of 14 people. Presenting the report Justice (Retd.) D. Hariparanthaman, who was part of the Inquest team, said police repression in Thoothukudi is continuing to this day, with the police intimidating van drivers and local people from coming to Chennai to participate in the release of the Inquest report. He appealed for a return to normalcy and an immediate end to the intimidation and arbitrary arrests of random people under “Open” FIRs [First Information Reports] filed against numerous unnamed people...

The report highlights the presence of sharp-shooters and snipers, the targeted killing of known anti-Sterlite protestors...and the failure of the administration and police to resolve the matter despite the long notice of 100 days given by protestors...