RAJENDRAN Vs. STATENAGAPATTINAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment can be commenced with this famous quote of Avvaiyar from her works, Moodhurai, as a prelude;

(2.) The above quote speaks about what a man will lose when he is deprived of food and afflicted with hunger. The Poetess has listed 10 qualities which a man will lose when he is overwhelmed by starvation. One of the most important quality which a man loses while he suffers from starvation is his sense of balance. Hunger and starvation directly results in anger and violence. This does not require a detailed scientific analysis and our own experience of how we behave when we are deprived of food when we are hungry, will tell us how we lose the sense of balance.

(3.) Here is a case where anger and violence caused due to GAJA Cyclone, has resulted in the Police registering criminal cases against the petitioners. Cyclone GAJA left a trail of destruction in Tamil Nadu. It devastated the Tamil Nadu delta areas on November 15th and 16th of 2018, and severely affected 12 Districts of the State. One of the most affected place was Nagapattinam. When GAJA made landfall in Nagapattinam District, nearly 80,000 people were evacuated. Houses collapsed and trees were uprooted and moving from one place to another by vehicle became almost impossible. Despite the State Government putting its disaster management on high alert, nature once again showed its prowess and reminded man as to how small he is before nature. The administration never imagined that it is going to be overwhelmed by the cyclone's weird behavior and as a result, the storm devastated Nagapattinam and the pre-cyclone preparedness paled into insignificance resulting in a major challenge in handling the post-cyclone execution of rescue and rehabilitation work. Desperate citizens exploded with angry protest, gheraos and road blocks, since there was delay in providing the basic necessities and there was absolutely no power for nearly 10 days. It is under such adverse situation, the criminal cases came to be registered by the respondent Police and the same has been put to challenge before this Court.