Police response Following protests and media coverage of the deaths, on 24 June, the Police Department suspended two sub inspectors and an inspector and transferred all Sathankulam police to other locations.
Intervention by the Madras High Court In response to public outrage, the Madurai bench of
Madras High Court took
suo motu cognizance of the matter and on 24 June, a bench consisting of Justices P.N. Prakash and B. Pugalendhi called the Superintendent of Police, Thoothukudi before the court. The court ordered the Superintendent to inquire into the incident and submit an interim status report within two days. The order included a requirement to videograph the
autopsy, which was to be done by a panel of three experts in the presence of a magistrate after the police completed its inquest proceedings. Copies of both reports of the
autopsy and inquest were submitted to the high court. The
State Human Rights Commission Tamil Nadu took
suo motu cognizance of the offence and asked the Police Department to file a reply in this regard.
Reaction on social media Celebrities, politicians, and several notable people used social media to reveal the details of the attack and condemn the police action. Within three days of the deaths hundreds of thousands of tweets were sent out using the hashtag "#JusticeforJayarajandBennix", which was among the top Twitter topics trending in India on 26 June 2020 and among the top 30 trending globally. Celebrities, including
Ravichandran Ashwin,
Shikhar Dhawan,
Suchitra,
Siddharth,
Khushbu,
Jayam Ravi,
Karthik Subbaraj,
D. Imman,
Suriya used the hashtag.
Jignesh Mevani, a social activist and lawyer from Gujarat in western India, wrote on Twitter that "The
George Floyd of India are far too many". Film director
Hari issued a statement condemning police brutality and expressing regret for glorifying policemen in five of his films.
Government response Kanimozhi,
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha for the Thoothukudi Constituency said the incident was a collective failure of police and other officials and a gross violation of human rights. On 24 June 2020,
Edappadi K. Palaniswami issued a public statement stating that Jayaraj and his son Bennix had died due to illness. On 25 June 2020, Palaniswami announced a solatium of ₹10 lakh each to their family and stated that a government job would be provided to one family member of the deceased. On 28 June, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Palaniswami directed that the inquest into the deaths be handed over to the
CBI.
Judicial inquiry During the pendency of the autopsy inquiry,
Magistrate M S Bharathidasan submitted a report to the High Court describing
rude behaviour by Constable Maharajan at the Sathankulam police station. In the report, the Magistrate said Constable Maharajan made a “very disparaging remark” against him in the presence of D Kumar,
Additional Superintendent of Police and C Prathapan,
Deputy Superintendent of Police, even as policemen at the station recorded the videos of the proceeding. Following the complaint, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court began a suo motu
contempt of court proceeding and ordered the
Inspector General of Police for the South Zone to take action against the officers. The Inspector General suspended Maharajan; D Kumar, ADSP, and C Prathapan, DSP was moved to a waiting list. The High Court also directed the Thoothukudi district collector to depute revenue officials and take control of the police station to enable the magistrate to collect the necessary documents. This incident represents the first time in the
history of Indian Police that a district administration had seized control of a police station. The judges further directed the Additional Director of Forensic Sciences department to send a team of experts to collect materials from the station. ==CBI Investigation ==