INDIA: Police torture of young man part of “investigation”

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner in West Bengal, MASUM, regarding an alleged brutal torture of a young man by the Bally police in Howrah district, West Bengal, India on 14 February 2007. The victim was accused of being involved in the disappearance of his wife but the police used torture as the only means to investigate the case, despite no concrete evidence against him. None of the police officers responsible have been arrested so far. We call for your urgent intervention into this case.

CASE DETAILS:

Mr. Ajay Kumar Yadav is a 30-year-old man living with his family at No. 2, Debi Mandir Lane, Liluah under Liluah police station, Howrah district, West Bengal, India. Some time back, he got married to a woman named Ms. Namita Yadav, whose parent’s residential address is 280, Bidya Palli, Kali Tala, Anandanagar under Liluah police station, Howrah district. Their marital life was going well until Ms. Namita’s mother started frequently visiting at his house and interference in the family matters. Ms. Namita allegedly pressured Mr. Ajay to get separated from his family and lived with her family but Mr. Ajay refused to do so. In the meantime, Ms. Namita delivered a boy child. According to Mr. Ajay’s family, on 13 December 2006, they found that the baby was crying alone and Ms. Namita went missing. Mr. Ajay says that his family searched everywhere including her father’s house to find his wife but all their efforts were in vain.

Mr. Ajay informed his wife’s missing to the Liluah Police Station on 13 December 2006 (General dairy number 745 dated 13/12/2006). Mr. Ajay’s family also reported to the police that Ms. Namita went missing with Rupees 17,000 (USD 385), which was kept in the house for the marriage expenses for Mr. Ajay’s sister. Mr. K. C. Mitra, the investigating officer of the case, then called Mr. Ajay to the police station at around 8:00pm on the same day and interrogated him. Mr. Ajay was then illegally detaining him at the police station overnight. He was released on the following day on December 14 and the police allegedly remarked that they found no prima facie evidence that Mr. Ajay was involved in his wife’s disappearance.

Meanwhile, on the night of December 13, Mr. Sourabh Kumar Bannerjee, Sub Inspector of the Bally police station, allegedly visited Mr. Ajay’s house and claimed that the area where the incident took place was under the jurisdiction of the Bally police station. Mr. Ajay’s mother then narrated the entire incident to the sub inspector.

At about 2:30pm on December 17, the Bally police arrested Mr. Ajay’s parents, Mr. Ramrekha Yadav and Ms. Pushpa Yadav, and his sister Ms. Durga Yadav on accusation of torturing Ms. Namita physically and mentally (case no. 352/06 under section 498A/323 and 34 of Indian Penal Code dated 17/12/2006). However, there were several irregularities on the arrest process; no arrest memo was given to the family and the investigating officer of Ms. Namita’s case, Mr. Sourabh Kumar Banerjee, was in civilian clothes at the time of arrest. They were then taken to the Bally police station. On December 18, all the three were granted bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Howrah district. Mr. Ajay, who escaped from the arrest, finally surrendered before the court on 3 February 2007 due to apprehension of police torture and was then taken into the judicial custody by the order of the CJM of Haorah until 17 February 2007.

According to Mr. Ajay, the investigating officer (IO) Mr. Sourabh Kumar Banerjee visited him in the prison on around 6 February 2007 and told him that according to their finding, Mr. Ajay supposedly was not guilty. The investigating officer further told Mr. Ajay that the Bally police were trying to make him released from the prison but they want to seek for his assistance to find his wife’s whereabouts. Mr. Ajay believed the police officer on good faith.

The IO Mr. Sourabh Kumar Banerjee subsequently prayed for Mr. Ajay’s police remand on February 12 before the CJM of Howrah. Mr. Asit Saw, the Inspector-in-Charge (IC) of the Bally police station, was also presented at the court at that time. The CJM then granted the police remand for 4 days from February 12 to February 16 with the caution that the police would not subject the arrested person to any kind of physical and mental torture during the police custody as per direction of the Supreme Court’s guideline.

During Mr. Ajay’s remand at the Bally police station, his family members were usually allowed to visit Mr. Ajay. But when Mr. Ajay’s maternal uncle, Mr. Om Prakash Yadav, visited the police station on February 15, he was allegedly thrown out from the police station. He then could manage to look into the police lock-up where Mr. Ajay was writhing in pain with severe injuries.

According to Mr. Ajay’s testimony, on February 14, IC Mr. Asit Saw and IO Mr. Sourabh Kumar Bannerjee took him out from the police lock-up and brutally bashed him. He was brutally beaten with sticks and slapped and kicked by these two police officers. Mr. Ajay also reported that at midnight of February 15, IC Mr. Asit Saw again visited the police lock-up and forced him to stand up for more than one hour, although he was not be able to stand in his feet due to injuries. IC Mr. Asit Saw also allegedly tied his waist with rope and threatened to frame him in false charges.

Mr. Ajay was produced by the Bally police before the CJM of Howrah on February 16. Before taken to the court, he was brought before the attending medical officer of T.L Jaiswal Government Hospital for medical check-up as required by law. The IO Mr. Sourabh Kumar Bannerjee already threatened Mr. Ajay not to disclose anything to the medical officer. Mr. Ajay alleges that the attending medical officer prepared the report without examining him.

As Mr. Ajay’s injures were visible, he was not physically produced before the court by the police in violation of law. However, he was later produced before the court after his defence lawyer challenged about his torture. His uncle Mr. Om Prakash Yadav also gave his affidavit to the court and Mr. Ajay showed his scars and injuries to the CJM of Howrah district.

The court subsequently specified the Bally police to take him to Howrah District Hospital for medical treatment before sending him to the District Correctional Home of Howrah. The court also directed the jail super to provide medical treatment to Mr. Ajay and also directed Superintendent of Police of Howrah to investigate the alleged torture against Mr. Ajay.  However, the Bally police allegedly ignored the court order and directly sent Mr. Ajay to the jail in the evening, without brining him to Howrah District Hospital.

When MASUM’s fact finding team visited the prison on February 16, the Jailor informed that he would provide medical treatment to Mr. Ajay and he would impart the information about the details of his injuries on the next day. However, when the team visited the prison on the next day, the Jailor was conspicuously absent and the duty officer refused to divulge anything.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ajay was granted bail by the CJM of Howrah on February 17 and released from the prison on at 8:00am on February 18 after furnishing bail bonds and sureties. He is now under medical treatment thereafter. According to Mr. Ajay, he was not examined by any medico at the prison from the evening of February 16 to the morning of February 18, except that the medical assistants poured half bottle of liquid with bitter taste through his throat.

After being released, Mr. Ajay was warded at hospital where the doctors found various injuries in his body. The medical prescription stated that Mr. Ajay revealed that he was beaten and tortured by IO Mr. Saurav Kumar Banerjee and IC Mr. Asit Shaw of the Bally police on February 14 with blunt stick. The doctor also confirmed that Mr. Ajay’s cervical spine grossly tender and tenderness over T9 to S1 Flexion & extension is grossly restricted due to hitting by blunt weapon.

It is reported that Ms. Namita’s father specifically complained about the trafficking of his daughter but the Bally police initiated a new case against Mr. Ajay and his family members under section 498A of Indian Penal Code, which is about “husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty”.

This case shows how the ordinary people suffer from the poor quality of the police investigation. Basically, the police can proceed with any charges against anybody whenever they want in India. The problem is that no domestic mechanism exists to check and balance the excessive police power and its misuse by the police.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the Indian governmental authorities listed below and express your concern about this serious case. The AHRC is also writing to the Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture, Mr. Manfred Nowak, calling for an immediate intervention in this case.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER