Four cops suspended for custodial brutality

Four Delhi Police personnel, including three women constables, have been suspended over allegations of brutality on two Dalit women in custody.

The women were detained in a case of theft at Rohini South police station on Friday.
The women, residents of outer Delhi’s Mangolpuri, claim they are innocent and that the police were trying to frame them. A case under Indian Penal Code and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been registered against the police personnel.

“Sub inspector Rajveer and women constables Mamta, Lakshmi and Shagun have been suspended. They were posted with Rohini South police station,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern Range) R S Krishnia told Deccan Herald.

In their complaint, the women said seven police personnel, including four women constables, came to their house on Friday and took them to the police station in a police control room van at 9 am. The women were then accused of being involved in stealing of jewellery from Rohini Sector-2 last year.

One of the women’s sister told media the police abused her and made offensive marks. “The police forced my sister to confess in the case. When she resisted, she was beaten with wooden sticks and threatened of sticks being inserted into her private parts,” she said.

Family members further allege that they were not allowed to meet them in police custody. “We were not allowed to enter the police station when we came to enquire about our daughter,” one of the woman’s father said. “They were not able to walk when they were allowed to leave on Friday evening. They were tortured for seven hours,” he added. The women later underwent treatment at Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini Sector-3.

Following the incident, the women's family members gathered at the hospital and made a PCR call against the alleged police brutality. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Mangolpuri Rakhi Birla also went to the police station and demanded actions against the police personnel. “The two were being probed in a case of theft at an office in Rohini on December 15, 2014. But during the process of interrogation, they were treated inhumanly. I would dare say that there were even attempts of rape. Why else her clothes were torn?” Birla said.

“Police can’t be lauded for doing out suspension orders. It was a police station where top officials, including the ACP, sit. Under their nose, two women were in detention from 9 am to 7.30 pm. I think police will deserve an appreciation only when the entire thana is suspended,” she said. Taking cognizance of the incident, Delhi Police headquarters immediately ordered the suspension of the errant police personnel. A case under sections 323 (causing hurt), 330 (causing hurt to extort confession), 342 (wrongful confinement), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC and SC, ST Act has been registered.

Birla and AAP leader Alka Lamba will  appeal to the National Commission for Women, Delhi Commission for Women and SC/ST Commission.