Delhi: Six cops found guilty of man’s death in custody
The cops beat him up and took him to the police station in a semi-conscious state.
New Delhi: In a major blow to the Delhi police department, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found six police constables, attached to the Bindapur police station, guilty of violating human rights after they tortured a 35-year-old man who died in police custody in August 2014. The commission has issued notice to the chief secretary of Delhi government, asking why a monetary compensation of Rs 5 lakh should not be given to the deceased’s family.
The notice was issued to the office of Delhi police commissioner on May 29. The notice issued by the NHRC read, “The commission perused the records and observed that the police officials of the Bindapur police station picked up the deceased, Manoj Rana, from his house.
“They beat him up and took him to the police station in a semi-conscious state. Later, unknown persons found his body abandoned in Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital. During the enquiry, the magistrate found that the deceased had sustained as many as 20 injuries that were ante-mortem in nature.”
A report submitted by the deputy commissioner of police (cyber and FICN) on May 12, 2017, revealed that the accused police officials — head constable Bhoop Singh and constables Rajesh Solanki, Uttam, Rajesh, Sudhir, and Arvind — had brought the victim to the Bindapur police station in East Delhi’s Uttam Nagar, where he was subjected to torture to extract information from him about a gunshot fire incident and recovery of firearm.
As a result of the torture meted out to him, Manoj died. The police personnel took him to DDU Hospital in a car belonging to the accused constable Arvind and abandoned his body.
The officials said that the report further revealed that after completion of the probe, a chargesheet was filed under Sections 365/302/201/34 of the Indian Penal Code against all the six policemen in Dwarka Court on August 22, 2014. On September 29, 2015, the court framed charges against the six officials. The trial is pending before the court.