Key points
- Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay has sanctioned ₹5.25 crore in additional relief for victims of the May 2018 Thoothukudi police firing.
- Each of the 13 bereaved families gets ₹25 lakh more, lifting their total to ₹50 lakh, and each of the 40 seriously injured gets ₹5 lakh more.
- The sums match the Aruna Jagadeesan Commission's compensation proposals, but action against officers it named is still in the courts.
Tamil Nadu will pay another ₹5.25 crore to those hit by the 2018 Thoothukudi police firing. Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay sanctioned the money in an order announced in a government release on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, for the families of 13 people killed and 40 people seriously injured when police opened fire on protesters against the Sterlite copper smelter on May 22 and 23, 2018.
The release said the chief minister “compassionately examined” the appeals of affected families before approving the extra payment, which follows the recommendations of the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission.
What the order provides
Each family of the 13 dead gets an additional ₹25 lakh, ₹3.25 crore in all. Each of the 40 grievously injured gets an additional ₹5 lakh, ₹2 crore in all. The two sums make up the ₹5.25 crore.
The families of the dead had already received ₹25 lakh each and the injured ₹5 lakh each. With the new order the total comes to ₹50 lakh per family and ₹10 lakh per injured person. State officials said the extra ex-gratia is meant to ease economic distress and help households rebuild their livelihoods.
District authorities in Thoothukudi have been told to speed up verification and transfer the money directly into the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries “without procedural delays”. The release gave no date for the payments.
How the firing happened
Police fired on thousands of protesters marching towards the Thoothukudi Collector’s office on May 22, 2018, in the agitation against the Sterlite Copper plant, and the violence continued the next day. The state shut the plant permanently on May 28, 2018. The Madras High Court upheld the closure in 2020 and the Supreme Court dismissed Vedanta’s plea to reopen it on February 29, 2024.
The Aruna Jagadeesan Commission, appointed on May 23, 2018, submitted its final report on May 18, 2022. It found that police used excessive force, named 17 police officers for accountability and faulted the then District Collector, N. Venkatesh, for failing to anticipate the protest. It recommended ₹50 lakh for each bereaved family and ₹10 lakh for each grievously injured person, along with departmental and, where applicable, criminal action.
The new order brings the money in line with those two figures. It does not touch the question of action against officials.
What is still in court
The accountability demand is before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. Petitioners led by K. Kathiresan of PP Kulam, Madurai, want criminal cases against those responsible and payment of the balance compensation. In the hearing, Advocate General told the bench there was no statutory obligation on the government to implement the commission’s recommendations in their entirety. The state’s affidavit said disciplinary action against Mr. Venkatesh and two senior police officers had been dropped under the previous DMK government, and the present government declined to reconsider it. For the then Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police, P. Mahendran, the government told the inquiry authority to resubmit its report with findings on the charges.
Petitioners’ counsel Henri Tiphagne questioned the state’s conscience and pointed out that the CBI chargesheet named only one police officer, Inspector Thirumalai. He asked whether the state would set up a Special Investigation Team. Because a related case is pending in the Madurai District Court, the bench said it could not pass orders at that stage and adjourned the hearing. The Leader of the Opposition has urged the TVK government to implement the commission’s recommendations in full.
Families have pressed for more for years. J. Vanitha, whose son was killed, petitioned the Madras High Court in February 2024 seeking ₹1 crore for each of the 13 families. Her question to the state then was: “Is our life worth less than that of a crow or a sparrow?”
What happens next
The next step is the transfer of money. Thoothukudi district officials must verify the beneficiaries before it reaches their accounts, and no payment date has been announced. The case on criminal action and disciplinary action remains with the Madurai Bench. Other demands from protesters, including the permanent withdrawal of all cases against them and a challenge to the CBI’s probe, are unaddressed by this order. Neither the families nor opposition parties had commented on the sanction when this report was written.