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Surat policemen suspended for torturing minor boys

Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD: Three policemen of the Salabatpura police station in Surat were placed under suspension on Friday for allegedly torturing three minor boys in custody.

The suspension was ordered on a notice by the Gujarat State Human Rights Commission following reports that the boys, aged 13, 12 and 10, arrested for alleged theft of Rs. 28,000 on Monday, were subjected to inhuman treatment, including electric shock, to extract “confessions.”

According to the police, the boys were picked up following complaints of theft of a bag containing about Rs. 28,000 from a vegetable shop in the Surat agricultural producers’ market. The children usually roam around the market to collect discarded vegetables to sell them.

As the three denied having a hand in the disappearance of the cash bag, the Salabatpura police allegedly handcuffed and tied them to a table and administered electric shocks. The incident came to light after the children were sent to a remand home from where they were taken to the civil hospital for treatment of injuries.

Initially, the police claimed that the children sustained injuries as they fell on ground, one of them in a gutter, while trying to escape. But the children told a local court about the treatment meted out to them in the police station after which they were released on bail.

A senior police officer has been told to investigate the children’s complaint and submit a report to Surat Police Commissioner R.M.S. Brar. Additional City Police Commissioner B. Chandrasekhar said though no complaint was lodged with the police, station officer Ramesh Anand and head constables Gaganbhai and Jayanti Keshav were placed under suspension on confirmation of the reports of handcuffing.

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