India’s top court yesterday paved the way for the reopening of a copper smelter at the centre of a police shooting that left more than a dozen protesters dead last year. The Sterlite Copper plant was closed in May 2018 after police opened fire on demonstrators, who said the smelter was poisoning air and water around the southern port city of Thoothukudi.

The plant is owned by Vedanta Limited, an Indian subsidiary of the British-based Vedanta Resources owned by Indian-born billionaire tycoon Anil Agarwal.

India’s federal environment court in December granted permission for the plant to reopen, prompting an appeal by the Tamil Nadu state government. It argued that concerns the smelter had “irreversibly polluted” groundwater in and around Thoothukudi had been ignored, but the Supreme Court upheld the tribunal’s decision.