INDIA: A man allegedly tortured to death and the police attempt to cover up the incident by fabricating charges 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from our partner organization MASUM that a man named Kanai Santra died after being severely assaulted by the police while he was in the Alipur court lock-up. More seriously, the police are trying to cover up the incident by lodging a false complaint against the co-detainees of the victim, accusing them of being culprits in the victim’s murder.

Please write a letter to the local authorities and demand their investigation of this case urgently, that they suspend the offending state and police officers and start criminal proceedings against the perpetrators without delay.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Death of Kanai Santra in court lock-up while in judicial custody in Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Name of the victim: Kanai Santra, aged about 38 years, son of Late Bankim Santra, an electrician
Residential address of the victim: Chakdaulat-Kalitala Village, Muchisha Post Office,
Nodakhali Police Station, South 24 Parganas District
Alleged perpetrators:
1) Ranjan Sinha, Officer-in-Charge of Nodakhali Police Station
2) Sunil Haldar, Sub Inspector (SI) of Police, Nodakhali Police Station (Investigating Officer)
3) Samir Mukherjee, Sub-Inspector, (In-Charge) Alipur Court Lock-Up
4) S. K. Dutta, Court Inspector, Alipur District Judges Court
5) Inspector in Charge, Jadavpur Police Station
6) Pravat Pathak, SI, Jadavpur Police Station (Investigating Officer)
7) Ashim Kumar Ghosh, Officer in Charge, Alipur Police Station
8) S. A. Khan, Sub Inspector, Alipur Police Station (Investigating officer)

Case details:

On 23 May 2004 at about 11:00 am, Kanai Santra, an electrician, was arrested by officers from the Nodakhali Police Station, when he was busy with his job in the village road near Kalitala, Nodakhali Police Station, South 24 Parganas District. It is reported that while he was arrested by the police, he was not informed of the reason of arrest and the ‘memo of arrest’, which is one of the duties of the police at the time of arrest, was not issued.

When they were informed of Kanai’s arrest, his family rushed to the Nodakhali Police Station to find out the facts. The police told them that they arrested Kanai as he was allegedly suspected of stealing ornaments from a nearby Kali temple. However, Kanai’s family insists that the allegation against Kanai was baseless. According to the members, their family had donated a number of valuable gold/silver ornaments to that very Kali temple and Kanai had also supplied all manner of electrical accessories such as fans, lights, etc and installed all these without any labour charge to the temple.

Another irregularity by the Nodakhali Police was that they only produced Kanai before the Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Court, Alipur, Kolkata on 25 May 2004, two days after his arrest, even though Article 22(2) of the Constitution of India states that the arrested person should be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest. This illustrates that the Nodakhali Police illegally detained Kanai in the police custody.

This illegal act committed by the police continued with the brutal torture of Kanai that finally resulted in his death while he was in the Alipur Court lock-up.

Kanai’s case brought before the magistrate on 25 May 2004. However, Kanai was not produced before the SDJM court physically and only legal papers were produced before the magistrate. In fact, in Alipur SDJM court, UTPs are not produced in the court physically and only legal papers are brought before the magistrate by the policemen like the Court Inspector or the General Registry Officer (GRO). Even though this is in violation of the Indian Constitution and Criminal Procedure Code of India, it has been being practiced for a long time.

While he was in the court lock-up, Kanai was very nervous and anxious. He shouted to release him from the court lock-up as he felt the place to be suffocating. At that time, there were several other under trial prisoners (UTPs) in the court lock-up. Then, the policemen attending the court lock-up inhumanly beat Kanai with sticks. They further assaulted Kanai by fisting and kicking all over his body. Finally Kanai fell down on the floor, unconscious. However, no policemen took care of him, simply abandoning him in the cell.

In the evening of 25 May 2004, when the Nodakhali Police came to take Kanai back to the police station as the court rejected his bail application, they found that Kanai was still lying unconscious in the court lock-up. Then the policeman, who was in-charge of the court lock-up, sent Kanai to the Bangur Government Hospital, where he died as a result of his injuries at 8:40 pm on that day.

After hearing the news of Kanai’s death, Officer-in-Charge of Alipur court lock-up, Mr. Samir Mukherjee, SI lodged a false complaint at Alipur Police Station at 10:30 pm, which described that Kanai was assaulted by the co-UTPs at the court lock-up (Case No. 82 dated 25/5/2004 under sections 325/308 of the Indian Penal Code). After the complaint was registered, at about 11:00 pm, the policemen of Alipur Police Station visited the Bangur Government Hospital. After confirming Kanai’s death, the Investigating Officer (I.O), Mr. S. A. Khan of Alipur Police Station, added an additional penal section 304 I.P.C. to the initial complaint. (304 I.P.C. is related to the case of unnatural death.)

As the Bangur Government Hospital, where Kanai was declared dead, is under the jurisdiction of the Jadavpur Police Station, the Unnatural Death (UD) case of Kanai Santra was started at the Jadavpur Police Station (Case No. 241 dated 26/5/2004). However, the Jadavpur Police registered this case only on 26 May 2004 even though Kanai died on 25 May 2004.

On 26 May 2004, an executive magistrate, Mr. Jiban Krishna Ghosh, conducted an inquest over the body of Kanai. It was detected that there were multiple external injuries on his body. There were bruises, cuts, haematoma on the left side of the chest, left eye, toes of left foot, fingers of right hand, left wrist, left knee and also other injuries. However, due to the negligence of the Jadavpur Police Station, Kanai’s body was not examined by the autopsy surgeon on 26 May 2004. On 27 May 2004, at about 3:00 pm, the Jadavpur Police brought the papers to the Calcutta Morgue for the post-mortem examination of Kanai Santra.

AHRC is deeply concerned that this is a custodial death case in the court lock-up under judicial custody and Kanai is a victim of police torture. AHRC also notices with grave concern that the police are attempting to cover up its murderous acts and putting the blame on Kanai’s innocent co-UTPs by abusing their power and having unauthorized and illegal access to the legal documents.

In India, the court lock-up is fully managed by the police personnel. Therefore, such incidents are not possible without police action. There was a public outcry in West Bengal over this police atrocity on an innocent citizen. Principally the court lock-ups should be governed by the judiciary. However, in West Bengal the functions of the lower criminal courts are managed by the police. The magistrates are also dependent on the police in their judicial functions. The SDJMs are reluctant to obey the Constitutional provisions. In most cases, the order of the court is written by the police even before the case is heard. It is the primary duty of the judiciary to take care of the under trial prisoners, at least in the court.

The situation regarding cases of torture or custodial death committed by the police is worsening and these abuses tend to corrupt the system. AHRC has pointed out this matter and urged the government of India to ratify the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). (To see the statement, please visit: AS-03-2004: Custodial deaths in West Bengal and India’s refusal to ratify the Convention against Torture)

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write a letter to the Chief Minister of West Bengal to urge him to intervene into this matter. Please demand him to suspend duty of the offending state and police officers, to start criminal proceedings against the perpetrators without delay and to compensate to the victim’s family.

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