PIL plea in Madras High Court insists on immediate upload of motor accident related documents on CCTNS portal

The petitioner said this would help bereaved families claim compensation easily

A mother of two youngsters who died in a road accident has approached the Madras High Court complaining that the police department was not uploading motor accident related documents on the Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems (CCTNS) portal. Uploading the information would help families of the victims to claim compensation without any hassle.

Acting Chief Justice T. Raja and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy on Monday ordered notice to the Director General of Police on the public interest litigation petition filed by Saleema Banu, 42, of Madurai and sought a response within four weeks. The petitioner claimed to have run from pillar to post to get her sons’ accident related documents.

The petitioner said, she was a housemaid and her husband was employed in a foreign country. The couple had three sons of whom the eldest and youngest had travelled in a motorcycle on the Tiruchi-Madurai highway on May 22, 2022 when a gas container truck knocked them down and crushed them under its wheels in a case of hit and run.

The Kottampatti police in Madurai district initially registered a FIR against unknown people, the petitioner said and accused the police of not having shown any interest in identifying the culprit. She claimed that it was her family members who identified the accused through verification of CCTV footages in the locality.

It was only thereafter, the police altered the FIR and arrested the accused. However, the FIR, alteration reports and other documents were not uploaded on the CCTNS system making it very difficult for her to claim motor accident compensation, said the petitioner and insisted on a direction for immediate uploading of documents for the benefit of similarly placed persons.