An inquiry report submitted by Sessions Judge Panchkula has confirmed the allegations that Dalit labour activist Shiv Kumar was in fact illegally detained by Haryana police and that they inflicted torture upon him while in custody. The report holds Additional SHO, Kundli police station, Shamsher Singh to be directly responsible for the torture.

As per LiveLaw, the inquiry Officer Deepak Gupta’ report states in the report that “allegations of illegal confinement and custodial torture of Shiv Kumar are duly proved on record”. The report was placed before the bench of Justice Jagmohan Bansal of Punjab and Haryana High Court. The counsel for the State sought time to go through the report and the next hearing is scheduled on January 27, 2023.

This inquiry report was submitted in the  plea filed by Kumar’s father seeking seekingtransfer of three FIRs registered at Kundli police station to an independentagency and probe into the illegal detention and torture of his son. Accordingly, in March 2021, the court directed Gupta to conduct an inquiry during which 15 witnesses were examined.

Shiv Kumar, President of Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, Kumar was arrested on January 16, 2021 a few days after the arrest of Nodeep Kaur, for allegedly violently protesting the harassment of factory workers in the Kundli Industrial Area in Sonipat on January 12. He was granted bail by a local Sonipat court in all three cases registered against him.

The inquiry report confirms Kumar’s allegations that he was picked up on January 16, 2021 and kept in illegal confinement and his arrest was shown only on January 23, 2021. He further stated that Kumar was medically examined “as many as five times between January 24 and February 02, 2021 but none of the doctors of the Government Hospital Sonepat or the doctor deputed in jail performed their duty and they apparently danced to the tune of the police officials”.

The report has also cast aspersions on the Judicial Magistrate before whom Kumar was presented for remand stating that had he seen Kumar in person, he could have noticed the injuries on his body.

“It appears that either Shiv Kumar was not physically produced before the Magistrate and was made to sit outside in the police vehicle; or if produced, he was not in a position to speak anything to the Magistrate due to the threats given by the police,” the report reads, as reported by LiveLaw.

Kumar’s account of his torture

The  24-year-old Dalit labour rights activist had told The Telegraph, after his release from prison, that his injuries include “broken toenail beds, fractures and symptoms of post-traumatic disorder”.

He said he was abducted by the police, “I remember being taken into the Criminal Investigation Agency-1 (police unit) in Sonipat’s Gur Mandi. From January 16 to 23, I was constantly hit with sticks, abused and humiliated referring to my caste. I was not allowed to sleep. They were inhuman. They were always in plainclothes. None offered me first aid.”

He further alleged he was “beaten and then shown videos of the protest (on January 12) and asked to identify people. I asked them how I could identify people when I was not there. At the time, I was at the Singhu border protest. People have taken footage of me at Singhu border. They would keep hitting me on my toes with lathis. They did all kinds of brutality and I was constantly in pain.”

The Telegraph reports that Kumar’s statement recorded by the board says, “They tied both his feet, lay him on the ground, and hit him on the soles. His 2nd, 3rd and 5th toe nails of the right foot were torn and the nail of the big toe of the left foot became blue. They also hit him on the buttocks with flat sticks, then they tied his hands and stretched his legs. He was made to lie on the ground with both legs straight and a metal pipe was placed on his thigh and rolled over the thighs by two people. They also hit him on both hands and palms and also on the back of his head. He was not allowed to sleep for three days, the C.l staff took his statement and asked him to give names and when he could not do so. They tied him to a chair and poured water to his head… He was mentally and physically abused in the police remand and they also poured hot water on his feet and any blisters that formed were burst by them.

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Shiv Kumar, the 24-year-old president of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS), who was arrested on January 16, has multiple injuries, including at least two fractures, a court ordered medical examination has revealed. He was arrested just four days after co-accused, fellow activist Nodeep Kaur was picked up from the Singhu Border farmers protest site. 

According to a report in the Indian Express, the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Chandigarh, has submitted its findings to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday. The GMCH has put on record that Shiv Kumar’s medical examination “showed multiple injuries, including at least two fractures on his left hand and right foot, caused by blunt object / weapon”. The injuries are noted to be “more than two weeks old”, in the report. Shiv Kumar was arrested on January 16, since then, not much news was reported about his condition, nor was it known if he had been allowed medical care, access to a lawyer etc. According to Nodeeep’s Sister, in the days following the arrest it was not clear if Shiv Kumar’s family was notified or if he had been allowed to talk to a lawyer, “there was no news or information about him,” she had said then.

A month later, lawyer, Harinder Singh Bains, who is among the scores who have volunteered legal help to the activists arrested from Singhu border, had said that the jail authorities have been citing the Covid protocols as issued by the government as a reason to keep jail inmates from meeting their lawyers and families. “Shiv Kumar is now kept in Covid quarantine under judicial custody and has not been allowed to meet even a lawyer,” added a lawyer who was trying to get a vakalatnama signed even a month after Shiv Kumar’s arrest. “The vakalatnama can be signed even without meeting the inmate, so it is not clear why they have not been done yet. Jail authorities seem to be using the Covid-19 procol at their own convenience,” he had said to SabrangIndia on February 16.

It was on February 19, that the court had directed the SP, Sonipat Jail, to get Kumar examined at GMCH, after his father, Rajbir, told the court that Kumar had been subjected to “police torture” reported IE. The police are yet to respond to those allegations, meanwhile, the IE reports that the GMCH report says Kumar has “right foot swelling…swelling and tenderness of left foot…nail beds of right second and third toe are broken and underlying skin is reddish in colour and showing healing changes… left big toe shows blackish discoloration… nails of left thumb and index finger shows bluish black discoloration with tenderness… tenderness over right wrist…There is fracture of distal phalanx of the second digit of left hand… fracture of base of 5th metatarsal bone of right foot…possible fracture/ sesamoid bone at left navicular bone… possibly fracture of the right ulna bone (right wrist).”

Kumar’s allegations have also been quoted in the report, he has alleged that on January 16, after his arrest, he was “taken to old Kacheri, Sonepat, where the C.I. staff assaulted him”. Kumar alleged that “there were about seven people”, adding that according to Kumar, “the police tied both his feet, lay him on the ground, and hit him on the soles. His second, third and fifth toe nails of the right foot were torn and the nail of the big toe of his left foot became blue. They also hit him on the buttocks with flat sticks, then they tied his hands and stretched his legs. He was made to lie on the ground with both legs straight and a metal pipe was placed on his thigh and rolled over the thighs by two people. They also hit him on both hands and palms and on the back of his head.” Kumar alleged that he was “also not allowed to sleep for three days. The C.I staff took his statement and asked him to give names, and, when he could not do so, they tied him to a chair and poured water on his head.”

According to the report: Kumar was presented before the court on January 24 and police was given 10 days’ remand. “He was in police remand from January 16 to February 2, 2021, and in jail in Sonepat from February 2, 2021, onwards,” says the report, adding that Kumar has alleged that “he was mentally and physically abused in police remand and they also poured hot water on his feet and any blisters that formed were burst by them. On January 29, 2021, they allegedly took him to Haridwar, but kept him in Sambalka police station, and reached Haridwar on January 30. On February 2, they took him to court but got a date for VC (video conference) on February 8”.

The IE reported that the team of GMCH doctors who examined Kumar included those from the orthopaedic, psychiatry, general surgery, radio diagnosis, forensic medicine and toxicology departments. It also reported the psychiatric evaluation report which says: “He appeared sad and distressed, with occasional crying spells. He expressed preoccupation with his current situation, reported predominant anxiety symptoms, flashbacks of brutality meted out to him, nightmares, feelings of loneliness, uncertainty about future and sleep disturbances.”

The High Court on Wednesday sought Kumar’s previous medical records, and fixed the next hearing for March 16. According to lawyers, the bail plea for Kumar will be applied for soon in all the three FIRs. His fellow activist Nodeep Kaur, has been lodged in Karnal Jail since her arrest on January 12, 2021. Details of Nodeep’s arrest may be read here.  

Related:

Falsely implicated, as I was successful in generating support for farmers: Nodeep 

Nodeep Kaur gets bail in second case, but remains in jail for now

Nodeep Kaur’s ‘illegal confinement’: Punjab and Haryana HC take suo motu cognisance

Karnal Jail cites Covid-protocol, prevents Nodeep from meeting family 

Why was Dalit labour rights activist, Nodeep Kaur, arrested from Singhu Border?

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