Justice's Long Arc: The Decades-Long Pursuit of Accountability in a DSP Attack

It’s often said, isn't it, that the wheels of justice turn slowly. And, honestly, sometimes they grind at a positively glacial pace. But, in truth, they do turn. Twenty long years. That’s how much time has passed since a Deputy Superintendent of Police faced a brutal, almost deadly, assault while trying to do his job, trying to curb the audacious scourge of illegal sand mining. Now, finally, after two decades, the Madras High Court’s Madurai Bench has brought a measure of closure, overturning an earlier acquittal and sentencing Tenkasi Hanifa to five years of rigorous imprisonment for his part in that shocking attack.

The year was 2004. A time, you could say, when illegal sand extraction from riverbeds was, perhaps, even more brazen than it is today. DSP R. Sekar, a dedicated officer, was leading a raid—a routine but always perilous task—on an illegal sand mining operation near a riverbed in Alwarkurichi, deep within Tenkasi district. This wasn't just some minor infraction they were investigating; it was an organized, defiant operation. And then, it happened. Amidst the chaos of the raid, Sekar was set upon, reportedly by Hanifa and a group of others, sustaining an injury to his arm from an axe. A harrowing moment for any officer, a stark reminder of the dangers inherent in enforcing the law against those who profit from its breach.

The immediate aftermath saw charges filed, investigations conducted, and eventually, the case moved through the local courts. Yet, and this is where the story takes a peculiar turn, a Tenkasi court — in what can only be described as a baffling decision at the time — acquitted Hanifa. One might wonder, how could such an apparent act of violence against a police officer, with an injured victim and seized weapon, result in an acquittal? Well, the State certainly wondered, and perhaps with good reason. They didn't let it lie. They appealed the decision, pushing for a re-examination, arguing that justice had been profoundly miscarried.

Fast forward to the present, and Justice K. Rajasekar, presiding over the High Court’s Madurai Bench, meticulously reviewed the original trial's proceedings, the evidence presented, and crucially, the testimony of DSP R. Sekar himself. And, you know, sometimes the simplest evidence speaks volumes. The judge, in his thoughtful deliberation, found compelling reasons to disagree with the lower court's conclusion. He noted that the trial court had indeed erred, overlooking crucial details and misinterpreting the weight of the testimony. The very axe seized, the very injury sustained by the DSP—these weren’t minor details; they were pivotal. Hanifa, it became clear, was directly implicated.

While Hanifa’s conviction underscores the High Court's commitment to ensuring justice, it's worth noting that five other individuals accused in the same incident were, in fact, acquitted by the higher court. For them, the evidence simply wasn't robust enough to meet the stringent standards of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A testament, perhaps, to the nuanced, often complex, process of law: one person found accountable, others freed due to evidentiary gaps. But for Tenkasi Hanifa, the sentence of five years rigorous imprisonment finally closes a long, drawn-out chapter. It’s a powerful, if belated, affirmation that even after two decades, attempts to undermine law and order, particularly against those who uphold it, will eventually be met with the full force of the judiciary.