Jharkhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) has felt that that the death of minor tribal Rupesh Swansi allegedly taken place at Bundu on Friday in police custody appeared to be a case of violation of Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act. A three-member SCPCR member team headed by chairperson Aarti Kujoor that visited the aggrieved family members of the victim on Sunday also assured that the commission would ensure that responsible policemen do not go unpunished.
“Today we visited the family members of the deceased and found the incident to be a clear cut violation of Juvenile Justice Act. The commission also assured them that it will write against everyone who will be found responsible for the incident so that they do not get spared,” said Kujoor. The victim’s family members claimed Rupesh, despite being a minor, was subjected to inhumane torture when he could not speak what the cops wanted to hear, Kujooor added.
Salesman with a cloth shop in Bundu, Rupesh Swasi died at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi on Friday, a day after he was detained by police because they thought he was associated with CPI (Maoists) arms network. Family members further claimed that Rupesh was beaten up throughout the night in the police station, which made him sick leading to his death.
“Bundu SDO and DSP have been directed to complete the probe within a day
and inform the Commission about the report,” said Kujoor. Family members however, demanded CBI probe into the case so that the culprits could be booked under section 302 of IPC, she said.
Following the incident, a high level meeting was called by DGP DK Pandey on Saturday who handed over the probe to the Crime Investigation Bureau (CID). Besides CID probe, Ranchi Range DIG RK Dhan has also been asked to submit a report within a week over the entire episode.
Meanwhile, officer-in-charge of Dasham police station Pankaj Kumar Tiwari and officer-in-charge of Rahe police station Ashok Kumar Prasad, who had picked Rupesh up from his house and were responsible for his safe custody, have already been suspended by Ranchi SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi. Rupesh was taken into custody by police on Thursday night on the apprehensions of supplying arms to the Maoists.
Stunned by the incident, Rupesh’ family members backed by the villagers of the adjoining villages, blocked Ranchi-Jamshedpur National Highway 33 for over two hours in the morning on Saturday against the incident. The two-hour blockade completely crippled the plying of vehicles on it on NH33.
The protesters demanded arrest of Bundu DSP Pawan Kumar, who they claimed was the mastermind of the torture as it was he who ordered the police officers to detain the boy on the basis of unverified intelligence reports.