Fourteen months after Sarah Thomas, a multinational company employee from Dubai, was mistaken for a fugitive wanted by the CBI and arrested by immigration officials and police at Chennai airport, the Madras high court recently awarded Rs 2 lakh compensation to her.
CHENNAI – Fourteen months after Sarah Thomas, a multinational company employee from Dubai, was mistaken for a fugitive wanted by the CBI and arrested by immigration officials and police at Chennai airport, the Madras high court recently awarded Rs 2 lakh compensation to her.
However, since the unsuspecting victim of the faux pas told the court that she was not interested in the compensation amount, state and central government must pay Rs 1 lakh each to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Flood Relief Fund, said a bench comprising Justice S Tamilvanan and Justice C T Selvam on Tuesday.
On October 29, 2014, Sarah Thomas landed at Chennai airport from Dubai to attend a colleague’s wedding scheduled the next day in Madurai.
She was detained by immigration officials and placed under arrest on the ground that she was Sara Williams Saramma Thomas alias Saramma Thomas who was facing a CBI case and against whom a lookout circular (LOC) was pending.
She was lodged in Central Prison at Puzhal and taken to Kerala by a team from the state. It was only on November 2, 2014 that the mistake dawned on the Kerala police.
Her son, Kevin John Sajith, an engineering student in Chennai, filed the present habeas corpus petition in the high court.
On Tuesday, the bench said: “We are of the view that it is a harassment, causing grave mental agony to an innocent person. The reasons assigned by officials that the mistaken identity was on account of bona fide reasons could not be accepted. There is a gross negligence on the part of authorities in sending Sarah Thomas to Central Prison, Puzhal, and then taking her to Kerala.
The judges said while Rs 1 lakh would be paid by the external affairs ministry, another Rs 1 lakh would be paid by the government of Tamil Nadu.
31/12/15 Link
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CHENNAI – Fourteen months after Sarah Thomas, a multinational company employee from Dubai, was mistaken for a fugitive wanted by the CBI and arrested by immigration officials and police at Chennai airport, the Madras high court recently awarded Rs 2 lakh compensation to her.
However, since the unsuspecting victim of the faux pas told the court that she was not interested in the compensation amount, state and central government must pay Rs 1 lakh each to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Flood Relief Fund, said a bench comprising Justice S Tamilvanan and Justice C T Selvam on Tuesday.
On October 29, 2014, Sarah Thomas landed at Chennai airport from Dubai to attend a colleague’s wedding scheduled the next day in Madurai.
She was detained by immigration officials and placed under arrest on the ground that she was Sara Williams Saramma Thomas alias Saramma Thomas who was facing a CBI case and against whom a lookout circular (LOC) was pending.
She was lodged in Central Prison at Puzhal and taken to Kerala by a team from the state. It was only on November 2, 2014 that the mistake dawned on the Kerala police.
Her son, Kevin John Sajith, an engineering student in Chennai, filed the present habeas corpus petition in the high court.
On Tuesday, the bench said: “We are of the view that it is a harassment, causing grave mental agony to an innocent person. The reasons assigned by officials that the mistaken identity was on account of bona fide reasons could not be accepted. There is a gross negligence on the part of authorities in sending Sarah Thomas to Central Prison, Puzhal, and then taking her to Kerala.
The judges said while Rs 1 lakh would be paid by the external affairs ministry, another Rs 1 lakh would be paid by the government of Tamil Nadu.
31/12/15 Link
