The Sanjaynagar police in Bengaluru have been accused of torturing a man in their custody and then attempting to cover it up. The Karnataka Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) is investigating the complaint.
The incident occurred around 2 pm on Wednesday, June 10. Advocate Avani Chokshi overheard screams coming from a room inside the police station when she was there in connection with another case. When she tried to intervene, the police snatched her phone, she alleged in her complaint to the Bengaluru Police Commissioner and the KSHRC.
She said in her complaint, “At 2.10 pm, I heard screams from a man from the first room to the right side on the ground floor. On pushing the door open, I saw a man lying on the ground without pants, and with his feet bound together by tape. This man was being beaten by police officials, but I could not see the officials face, as immediately after I came near the door and pushed it open, the door was slammed shut on my face and locked from both inside and outside.”
She said that afterwards, on the instructions of a male police official, a woman police constable forcefully snatched her phone and pushed her away from the room where the alleged torture was being carried, to near the entrance of the police station.
Avani said that she was taken to another room to meet the Assistant Commissioner of Police (JC Nagar) KS Thanveer, and during that time, the man allegedly tortured was whisked away from the police station. It was only later that her phone was returned to her, she said in the complaint.
“For a second time, I tried to go to that interrogation room to see the status of the unknown accused person who was being tortured, but I was physically blocked and my phone was snatched from me a second time,” she said.
Officers of the police wing of the KSHRC raided the police station around 4.30 pm. They have summoned documents, including the CCTV footage and arrest records, from the police station.
The room where the alleged torture was being carried out is the office of a sub-inspector, where a CCTV camera was installed. It is unclear whether or not it was working at the time of the alleged torture. The entrances of the two lock-ups on the ground floor of the police station are covered by CCTV cameras.
DCP (North) Babasab Nemagoud told TNM that he had asked the ACP (JC Nagar) to investigate and that a report was awaited.
ACP (JC Nagar) KS Thanveer could not be reached for comment.
In a statement, the All India Lawyers Association for Justice (AILAJ) said that it “unequivocally condemns both, the unconstitutional and criminal act of the Sanjayanagar Police Station in holding a person illegally under detention, and subjecting him to cruel and degrading torture, and for manhandling an advocate who was simply doing her job.”
The statement also noted that the police only registered an FIR in connection with the case for which the man had been taken into custody, after she demanded information about the FIR.