JORHAT, May 25 � Taking suo motu cognisance of a media report of the alleged custodial torture by Jorhat police on an accused youth, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from the Director General of Police (DGP) within two weeks.
Expressing concern over the police torture on Siddharth Kausik Dutta in their custody, the NHRC stated that the incident (if it is true) was a serious issue of violation of human rights of the victim and therefore, it has issued a notice to the DGP.
On the basis of the media report, the NHRC has also stated that Dutta �was subjected to false implication and custodial torture in one of the police stations in Jorhat district of Assam� and �reportedly no action had been taken on two separate complaints made by the mother of the victim against the police and other accused�.
Though he was arrested by Pulibor police station, he was later transferred to the lock-up of the main police station in Jorhat town.
Before the NHRC issued the notice to the DGP, Dutta�s mother had moved a local court against the police and the other accused concerned. Though the court of additional chief judicial magistrate, Jorhat directed the police to submit the close circuit television (CCTV) footage (stored from April 16 to April 19, 2013) of the Jorhat police station along with other relevant documents by May 23, the police could not submit the required CCTV footage before the court.
�The police submitted that their close circuit cameras can only store the footage of the first twelve days in a month as the storage capacity is limited to only a hard disc of 500 gigabyte (GB) memory,� said advocate Rintu Goswami, who represented the petitioner of the case concerned.
He said, the police did not mention any remedial measures to solve the issue which may cause serious problems in collecting proper evidences on the happenings in the police station.
However, in response to the court direction, the police has submitted the records of general diary of both the Pulibor and Jorhat police stations. The Jorhat jail authority has also submitted the medical reports before the court in connection with the physical condition of Dutta while he was in judicial custody.
According to the petitioner of the case, the police tortured the youth mercilessly in Jorhat police station on April 19 which caused serious damages to his kidney, liver and other vital organs and he is currently undergoing treatment at the Assam Medical College Hospital (AMCH), Dibrugarh.
As his condition is said to be serious, the officers concerned are waiting for the recording of his statement. The court also extended the time till May 29 for submission of his recorded statement.
