Srinagar: The CBI on Wednesday arrested eight people, including six policemen, in connection with the alleged custodial torture of a policeman following the Supreme Court’s order last month. The arrests were made following the Supreme Court’s July 21 directive, which took serious note of the ‘cruel and inhuman’ torture of a police constable in Jammu and Kashmir.
Officials said the arrested policemen included a deputy superintendent of police, an inspector and an assistant sub-inspector. The accused policemen have been directed to deposit their weapons and other government items in the respective district police line.
One of the accused policemen – who is a special police officer working on honorarium – has been removed from the list of Special Police Officers (SPOs). Officials said further details are awaited. On July 21, the Supreme Court directed the CBI to register an FIR into the case of cruel and inhuman custodial torture of a police constable in Jammu and Kashmir and ordered the Union Territory administration to pay him a compensation of Rs 50 lakh.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said that the injuries sustained by the constable during illegal detention, particularly the gross mutilation of his genitals, pouring pepper powder on his genitals and administering electric shocks, are reminiscent of the inhumane severe torture inflicted on him.
The combined effect of all these facts is highly shocking to the conscience of this Court, the bench said. The bench further said that the violation of Article 21 is “not only blatant but also grave.” The bench said that the constable suffered life-threatening injuries in the custody of fellow government officials and despite repeated complaints, no effective redressal was provided.
The CBI had registered a case against the accused on July 29. They have been charged with criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder, wrongful confinement and intentionally causing hurt by dangerous weapons. The Supreme Court had given the CBI one month to arrest the accused officers and three months to complete the investigation.
The court’s order came on a complaint by the victim’s wife, who alleged that her husband was illegally detained and tortured for six days after he was summoned in a narcotics case. She claimed that the accused officers used iron rods and wooden sticks, gave electric shocks, mutilated his genitals, even inserted red chilli powder into his rectum.
