The State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA) has recommended criminal action against two police officers for illegal custody and torture of a headload worker.
Hearing a petition, SPCA chairman K. Narayana Kurup found Sudheer Manohar, then Sub Inspector of Police at Kothamangalam and Aneesh T.S., a police driver attached to the Kalady station, guilty of physically assaulting Basial Mathai of Alattuchira and incapacitating him.
Based on the finding, the authority has directed the Superintendent of Police, Ernakulam Rural, or the Inspector General of Police, Kochi Range, to register a criminal case against the delinquent officers under IPC Sections 330, 326, and 452/34, besides initiating departmental action.
Compensation ordered
Further, the State government has been directed to pay a compensation of ₹1 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund to the victim. Noting that the petitioner was eligible to get a minimum compensation of ₹5 lakh from the State, the order also stated that the victim would be at liberty to move constitutional courts for recovery of the above amount from the State.
According to the complaint, the delinquent officers had forcibly dragged Basil Mathai out of his house on January 7 last year and brutally tortured him in custody over his suspected involvement in a criminal case.
However, on finding that he had no links with the case, they released him.
In its judgment, the SPCA also noted that Sudheer Manohar was an offender in at least six cases before the authority.
