Fears of India turning into a police state might have become our new reality, with five of the six people arrested in the Parliament security breach case alleging extreme custodial torture. On January 31, an application had been moved by the said accused to the Patiala House Court in Delhi. As they were presented before Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur, accused Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Lalit Jha, Amol Shinde and Mahesh Kumawat stated that they were tortured by Delhi Police to accept their association with opposition parties.
As per the submission made by the five before the court, they were given electric shocks to confess their crime, accept association with political parties and were forced to sign about 70-odd blank papers by the police.
As per the report in the Indian Express, the accused told the court that “Accused persons were tortured/given electric shocks to sign and confess (to) the commission of crime under the UAPA and their association with national political parties.”
As reported in the Hindu, the accused were pressurised to name a political party by the person conducting narco/polygraph test.
Judge Kaur has extended the judicial custody of all the six accused till March 1, 2024. Notably, the court has also sought a reply from the Delhi Police Special Cell in the said application and fixed February 17 for hearing the application.
It is crucial to point here that during a prior hearing, the sixth accused namely Neelam Azad, had told the court that a woman officer had forcibly obtained her signature on 52 blank pages. Azad had refused to undergo the polygraph test.
Related:
Historic 600 year old Delhi mosque demolished without notice
Four years behind bars, Sharjeel Imam still waits for a fair trial
Rajasthan: State Education Minister warns of bulldozer action against teachers