The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Poor are the worst victims of police torture: tribunal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Poor are the worst victims of police torture: tribunal

Special Correspondent

Final report of the jury was released on Tuesday
Report says electric shock, ‘roller treatment’, ‘aeroplane treatment’ meted out to victims

Bangalore: A people’s tribunal, held on torture in police custody in Karnataka, underlines an all-time truth about the victims of atrocities: that they are from subordinate groups including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minority communities, urban lower and labouring classes, women and even children.

The 94 cases heard by a jury of rights activists recently in Bangalore were selected from 800 instances of torture and death in custody, documented by the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM) in six districts of Karnataka since 2006. The final report of the jury was released on the eve of the International Human Rights Day here on Tuesday.

Kinds of ‘treatment’

The report documents the narratives of the victims on “treatments” meted out by the police, which ranged from verbal abuse and humiliation to extreme forms of physical abuse such as electric shock, “roller treatment” and “aeroplane treatment”.

The narratives, the jury notes in the report, “testifies to the horrifying fact that women detainees are routinely subjected to sexual abuse”. It also notes the widespread use of torture as a tool for the consolidation of power and perpetuation of caste and class dominance.

The jury has made a note of the impunity with which procedures are thrown to the wind “with no fear of repercussions of their behaviour”. Higher officials often respond with apathy and actively work to support the illegal acts of their subordinates, it has added. Complaints taken to various commissions are invariably caught up in delays.

The jury made a special mention of the atrocities committed by the Special Task Force (STF) set up to arrest forest brigand Veerappan and the “reign of terror” unleashed by it on the hapless people of MM Hills region. It has said that Shankar Bidari, who was the head of the force then and is currently the Police Commissioner of Bangalore, should step down from his position until the inquiry is concluded.

Cases on the rise

Asha Ramesh, one of the members of the jury who spoke after releasing the report, said that Karnataka, which boasts of having a “people-friendly policing” should look into why cases of atrocities are on the rise.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka