In a blatant disregard for law and order and human rights, the police at Sadar Police in Jaipur, Rajasthan allegedly brutally beat up a 26-year-old Feroze Ahmed Ghane while he was buying groceries at a market there. The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Rajasthan wrote to Anand Srivastava, Police Commissioner (Jaipur) about the matter, saying that Feroze was picked up on the evening of April 10 after sundown from near the railway station and kept along with two Kashmiris in the Sadar Thana lockups.
Feroze, originally a resident of the Baramulla district, had written to Kavita Srivastava, President, PUCL, stating that while he was at the market, a police van came and took him to the Sadar Thana station, locked him up and started beating him till the police baton broke.
He also wrote that he was not only physically assaulted by the police, but was also verbally branded a “terrorist” by the police. He said that the police also used offensive slang against Mr. Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Feroze sustained several serious injuries in the assault and though he was released on bail, he is still in acute pain and says that he is suffering from nausea. He has asked for urgent medical help from the authorities. He was taken to a doctor, but it was reported that the doctor hadn’t bothered to look at his injuries.
PUCL in its letter to the Commissioner wrote that it was only after the social media uproar that the Hasanpura Chowki incharge, Manoj, reached Feroze but still no medical help was extended to him. PUCL urges the Commissioner that Feroze is “shown immediately to the hospital and an X-ray or CT scan of his head is done.” It has asked that Feroze immediately be shown at the nearest government hospital.
Feroze had written that he was suffering from aches in his head and feeling nauseous.
PUCL has asked the Commissioner to immediately “enquire into the role of the Sadar Thana police, who in a xenophobic and anti-Kashmiri fervor, decided to abuse the boys and hit them, which is definitely a crime.” The organization said, “All forms of torture, verbal, non-verbal, physical and emotional, mental torture come under the form of custodial torture. We hope you will take strict action, including filing of criminal cases, against the culprits. The SHO should be immediately held responsible and action taken against them.”
The entire complaint by PUCL may be read below.
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