123 Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed IGP (training) Murlidhar Sharma to consider all CCTV footage and digital materials preserved at the Midnapore police station where Medinipur College student Sucharita Das was detained and allegedly tortured and submit a report to the court by March 25.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh passed the direction after the accusations of brutal torture by petitioner Das didn't match with the submission made by advocate general Kishore Datta who refuted the accusations. Das had moved the HC, complaining against custodial torture after police picked her up in front of the Vidyasagar University where she along with other SFI supporters had launched a protest on March 3 against the JU incident.
Counsel for the petitioner Shamim Ahmed submitted to the court that he had college footage that substantiated the stance of cops while they were taking Das to the PS. Ahmed complained that Das was taken to the PS at 9 am and was detained there till 2 am, and released only after her father sent an e-mail to the PS, wanting to know what her offence was.
Datta pointed out to the court that her accusations were not reflected in the complaint she made. The advocate general instead gave a timeline of the petitioner's stay in police station and submitted to the court that the CCTV footage would bear that out. "Even the IC of the PS had a body camera that recorded what happened there," Datta said. He submitted how the detainee was provided tea and chanachur, lunch at 2.30 pm, snacks at 7.05 pm and dinner at 9.50 pm.