The Human Rights Forum (HRF) condemns the physical attack on Dr. V Suresh, national general secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and senior advocate at the Madras High Court. The assault, carried out by hired agents of a mining mafia, took place at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu on Sunday (2-11-2025) during a public hearing organised by the People’s Campaign for Justice in respect of social and environmental issues emanating from illegal stone quarrying in Tirunelveli district. Suresh was deliberating as the chair of the jury panel of the people’s tribunal when the assault took place.
The assault was carried out by around 25 persons and was clearly intended to disrupt the public hearing and to threaten and intimidate. A chair was also flung at Suresh which hit him above the neck resulting in a bleeding injury. The attack took place in the context of Suresh’s prior work as amicus curiae in a PIL that uncovered a massive illegal beach-sand mineral mining scam across Tirunelveli. This case led to a ban on mining operations. We believe that some of the mining companies implicated in that scam are behind Sunday’s attack.
The PUCL has stated: “It is apparent that hired agents of the mining mafia – posing as members of the public – deliberately sought to disrupt the Constitutional freedoms of speech and assembly by violent disruption through criminal intimidation and causing of physical hurt…Dr V. Suresh has been consistently pursuing legal action for many years against those involved in the illegal extraction of mineral wealth and has secured several judgements which have come down heavily upon illegal sand mining.” We gather that the attack took place in full view of the police but they failed to intervene appropriately, only apprehending one person from the violent mob.
HRF calls on the TN government to institute a credible and independent investigation into the assault on V Suresh, the circumstances of non-intervention of the police, register criminal cases and arrest all those responsible. The safety of Suresh and all human rights defenders working in the region must be ensured. We believe this is an assault not only on V Suresh but on the right of every person to carry out human rights work in safety and dignity.
VS Krishna
S Jeevan Kumar
HRF AP & Telangana Coordination Committee members
3-11-2025,
Visakhapatnam