The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has sought the intervention of the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur over an alleged case of custodial torture in one of the police stations in Assam’s Jorhat district.
According to the Hong Kong-based Human Rights body, the inhuman torture on a youth within ten days of police custody has already damaged his kidneys and liver. Following which, the concerned authorities had to transfer the victim to Dibrugarh Medical College for better treatment.
The AHRC, in a statement issued here on Monday said, they have received the information from Women in Governance (WinG-Assam) — a network of women human rights defenders in Assam — about the custodial torture of a youth, Siddharth Kaushik Dutta, in one of the police stations in Jorhat district.
“According to the information received, Rishikesh Hazarika, Officer-in-charge (OC) of Pulibor police station took the victim from his home at Tilikiam Kola Gaon village without any formal complaint against him on April 16 this year. He was later transferred to Jorhat Sadar police station. However, the case details reveal that police falsified charges against him,” the statement said.
It further said that the victim was repeatedly tortured by the police in Jorhat police station and a civilian Rupanjal Das, who used to be the business partner of the victim. Dutta owed Rs 4 lakh from Das and he was repaying the debt in installments at the rate of Rs 80,000 per month at 20 percent interest on the principal amount, which amounts more than Rs 8 lakh.
The victim was then taken back to the police station after production in the court and was reportedly tortured at the behest of Das. The officer-in-charge at the Jorhat police station also accused Dutta of hiding firearms and asked him to return Rupanjal’s money.
The victim was tortured inside the OC’s office to evade CCTV cameras. “The OC beat Dutta severely and continuously for an hour all over his body. The soles of his feet were thrashed so brutally that he lost consciousness. The torture continued till April 26, when the authorities had to shift him to the Dibrugarh Medical college for better treatment,” said the statement.
The panel has also approached the National Human Rights Commission in this regard and said that although cases have been filed against the police officials, they might distort the evidences and there is risk of compromising independent investigation, a trend continuously observed by the AHRC in such cases, and consequently the perpetrator police officers will go unpunished.
“Although the mother of the victim filed two separate complaints against the OC and the other accused, she was later informed that no cases were registered against the police official and the accused,” the statement said adding that this forced the victim’s mother to file a criminal case before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jorhat against the accused and the police officials involved in the torture.