In a yet another death of a youth under ‘police custody’, Tausif Hussain, hailing from Hazaribagh died on Sunday at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi allegedly after being thrashed by the police. He was in the custody for mobile snatching case along with his friend Tipu Khan. Police on the other hand have however refuted the claims of his family members.
Police maintained that Hussain was brutally thrashed by the locals itself who had nabbed them on July 8 when the duo were fleeing on a motorbike after snatching the phone of a passerby at Hazaribagh.
“Tausif along with his friend Tipu were returning towards district during which they met with an accident with another youth who received minor injuries on his ears. Following the incident the police intercepted them and arrested the two friends and put them in different cells. Tausif, according to Tipu, was beaten up for over one and a half hours by at least 10 constables in the night and was admitted to Sadar Hospital after he started vomiting in the night,” said Md. Imran, cousin of the deceased.
After his condition deteriorated further, Tausif was later referred to RIMS in Ranchi on July 10 where he took his last breath on Sunday after bleeding from his mouth, he added. “We only demand justice from the government and also wish that those who are responsible for my cousin’s death must be presented before us,” said Imran.
Police on the other hand, claimed that the youths had been thrashed badly by the crowd which caught them red handed while snatching the mobile from another person after injuring him badly by a blade.
“They were thrashed by the crowd itself which somehow caught hold of them and later handed over to the police. After looking at their condition we admitted both Tausif and the victim to Sadar Hospital following which the victim was released a day later after getting 12 stitches on his ear,” said Hazaribagh SP Bhimsen Tuti.
Since the condition of Tausif, who had suffered injuries on his lower parts of the body, further deteriorated on July 9 who was referred to RIMS on July 11, said the SP. “After being treated for 6-7 days at RIMS finally Tausif died on Sunday due to failure of both of his kidneys,” Tuti added.
Directives of National Human Rights Commission will followed in the case and a panel of doctors will conduct Postmortem of the body on Monday, said the SP.