The Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) has ordered an inquiry into the alleged torture of a 17-year-old boy by the Inspector and Sub-Inspector of Mahalakshmi Layout Police Station.
According to a complaint filed by the victim's father with the KSHRC on Tuesday, Ashok was brutally “beaten up by Police Inspector Anil Kumar and Sub-Inspector Patil in the early hours of July 26, when they picked him up for interrogation”.
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“The Mahalakshmi Layout police had picked up the boy to question him about two men, Kulli and Mani,” said Justice S.R. Nayak, KSHRC Chairperson. “When they didn't get details of their whereabouts, the two took him to an isolated location and thrashed him on his knees and leg.”
‘Coercion'
“The boy was made to sign on a blank piece of paper, which the police used to file an FIR against Kulli and Mani,” said Prakash Kariappa of the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM), who is closely following the case.
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Multiple fractures
On Wednesday, a KSHRC team visited the hospital where Ashok is being treated for multiple leg fractures. The KSHRC, which is inquiring into the case, was in the process of obtaining the statements of the policemen allegedly involved in the case, said Justice Nayak. However, Mahalakshmi Layout police denied torture.
“Ashok has had cases against him in the police station for assault and theft, among other things. That night, he was attacked by Kulli and Mani, and we think gang rivalry was involved. We took him to the hospital where he and his family told the KSHRC the inspector beat him up,” said a source at the station.