The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed Inspector General (IG) Muralidhar Sharma to investigate allegations of custodial torture levelled by some Left-leaning female student activists at a women police station in Paschim Medinipur district and submit a report by March 25.
The court asked the senior police officer, posted as IG (Training), West Bengal Police Academy, to check the CCTV footage from the police station and other available material to investigate the matter.
The alleged assault took place after some female student activists were taken to the women police station during a protest in front of Vidyasagar University on March 3 following an unrest at Jadavpur University in the presence of state Education Minister Bratya Basu.
Though five activists had alleged assault, Sucharita Das of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and Sushrita Soren of the Democratic Students Organisation (DSO) moved the High Court seeking action against the guilty police personnel.
After hearing the petitions, the single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh handed over the investigation to IG Sharma by examining the footage from the police station.
The court fixed the next hearing in the case on March 26.
During the hearing, Sucharita’s counsel Shamim Ahmed alleged that she was pulled out of the campus by some “outsiders”, purported TMC supporters, and then taken in police custody. “After my father sent an email asking what allegations were against me, I was released. This is unlawful. Can the police slap me, ill treat me in custody? I was physically assaulted. I am not an offender. They even told me ‘we have special treatment for you’. We went to the Midnapore Hospital at 2 am, where doctors refused to examine us,” the counsel submitted on behalf of his client.
Sushrita Soren’s counsel Jayanta Narayan Chatterjee submitted, “My client was beaten up with a belt and wooden sticks on the instructions of IC (officer-in-charge) Sathi Barik. She was hit on the face with boots and hot wax was poured on her hands. Why were they detained and taken into police custody in the first place?”
“They were abused and threatened. They were released in the middle of the night without showing any arrest. A member of the tribal community was tortured,” he added.
Meanwhile, Advocate General Kishore Dutta submitted, “Whatever claimed by the petitioner is not reflected in the complaint. I have the CCTV footage of the duration when she was in police custody…The petitioner did not know the IC had a body camera that shows her having tea. Such allegations will undermine the morale of the police force.”
He further stated that the petitioner’s lawyer, who met her soon after, did not raise any such issue then.
Justice Ghosh observed that an investigation should be conducted in the matter first. “The allegations of custodial torture have to be dealt with sensitively. This will not bring down the morale of the police force,” he said.
The court directed that the report be submitted before it by March 25 and that the matter will be taken up for hearing again on March 26 for consideration of the report. The officer-in-charge of the women police station will file an affidavit by April 9 on the accusations, Justice Ghosh said.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Soren said, “We were tortured inhumanly. We were staging a peaceful protest. They took us in custody did not inform us what our crime was. I come from the tribal community. How can the police abuse our community?”
— PTI inputs