The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘We are suffering for our son’s mistakes’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 04, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘We are suffering for our son’s mistakes’

Staff Reporter

‘He ran away from our home on August 21’

A couple detained by Indiranagar police
The accused’s father allegedly beaten up

Bangalore: “My husband has been beaten black and blue by the police. I do not know where he is now and how is his condition. I fear for his life as he is a diabetic.”

These were the words of Varalakshmi, a resident of ITI Colony, who along with her husband Janardhan, was allegedly illegally detained by Indiranagar police station. She appeared before the SHRC authorities on Wednesday.

Ms. Varalakshmi and Mr. Janardhan were allegedly shifted to an unknown location by the police just before the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission team visited the police station on Tuesday. “They released me at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, but my husband is still under their custody,” she said.

“We are being harassed for having given birth to a son, who is accused of theft,” Ms. Varalakshmi said. She said a group of five policemen took her to the police station along with her husband and elder son Bhaktavatsalam on November 29. They enquired about the whereabouts of the younger son Narayan who is an accused in various cases of theft. Ms. Varalakshmi said she and her husband were held in the police station while Bhaktavatsalam was made to come there often. “The police inspector abused us in vulgar language. He even asked my husband to jump off the station and commit suicide if he fails to locate my son,” she said.

Ms. Varalakshmi claimed that they did not know anything about Narayan who ran away from home at a very young age. He married a girl and was later jailed for theft. “Narayan returned to the family a year ago claiming to have turned clean. But he disappeared on August 21. We later came to know he was involved in a theft of Rs. 54 lakh,” she said.

Ms. Varalakshmi added that she had pledged property documents to the police in lieu of their son’s theft. They requested the police to discharge them from the case.

Ms. Varalakshmi said she and her husband were taken to a hotel just before the arrival of the SHRC team on Tuesday. She said the police lodged them in different locations and later brought them to the police station around 2 a.m. Both were then sent back home. “My husband was allowed to change his dress and then taken away. One woman constable stayed along with me in the house,” she said.

Meanwhile, Inspector-General of Police (SHRC) Bipin Gopalakrishna said he would write to Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari to take action against the police inspector for the alleged illegal detention. He said instructions would be sent asking the police to follow rules during the questioning and interrogation of the accused.

Examining

Mr. Bidari said they were seeing whether SHRC could act as a supervisory authority over the cases registered by police. He said they were also looking whether the SHRC police team had any power to probe a case without the full Bench order of SHRC.

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