The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Government to pay a compensation of Rupees 10.07 lakh to the family of a Sri Lankan national, who was shot dead by a security guard at Madurai Central Prison complex, two years ago.

A Division Bench, comprising Justices V Ramasubramanian and D Hariparanthaman ordered that the compensation should be disbursed to the victim’s family through the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka, after deducting an ex-gratia of Rs one lakh, already paid by the State Government.

”An innocent foreign national on a visit to India with a valid visa was shot dead by a security guard. He (Sri Lankan national) neither carried any weapon inside the prison complex nor posed a threat to the security. There was no indication either in the counter affidavit filed by the Government that the victim was at fault in any way,” the court observed last evening, while allowing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition, filed by a lawyer on behalf of the wife of deceased W Carnicius Fernando.

”The deceased was a leader of a Sri Lankan fishermen association and owned several fishing vessels and was also a prominent person in his country.” ”Considering above facts, the death of such a person at the hands of another who wielded official authority needs to be compensated,” the court said.

Fernando was shot dead by a security guard over his suspicious movement at the entrance of the main gate of the prison complex on October five, 2007.

Fernando had come to Tamil Nadu to make arrangements for the release of some Sri Lankan fishermen, arrested on the charges of illegal poaching in Indian waters.

A Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) enquired into the incident and indicted the warder and a few other prison officials.

Subsequently, the Tamil Nadu Government accepted the findings of the RDO and ordered prosecution of the warder and departmental proceedings against the erring officials.