Telangana High Court on Wednesday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the alleged custodial torture of a tribal youngster Veera Shekhar by the police of Athmakur (S) in Suryapet district.
After hearing a PIL petition on the alleged custodial torture which ‘incapacitated’ the youngster, a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili instructed Nalgonda District Principal and Sessions Judge to inquire into the incident. The inquiry into the alleged custodial torture by Athmakur SI and other policemen should be completed within two months.
Findings of the report should be presented to the HC, the bench said. Advocate Venkanna Mallikanti, appearing for the petitioner, said the youngster was picked up by police on the night of November 10 last year from Ramoji thanda reportedly on his suspected involvement in a theft. The boy’s family members went to Athmakur police station only to be told that they would be informed of his arrest in due course of time.
But the youngster’s neighbour received a phone call after midnight from the police. He was told to inform Shekhar’s family to take him home, the lawyer said. When the youngster’s family members rushed to the police station, Shekhar was found in an unconscious state with saliva oozing out from his mouth, the lawyer said.
The police told Shekhar’s family that he was sick. But the youngster, till he was picked up by police, was healthy and had been ploughing the agriculture filed regularly, the advocate told the court. The family returned home with the youngster but came back to the police station along with residents of the thanda and staged a demonstration seeking to know reasons for his detention and torture.
The next morning, police took Shekhar to area hospital in Suryapet where doctors expressed their inability to extend better treatment to him. Then family members took him to a private hospital in Suryapet where the doctors said the youngster’s nervous system got irreparably damaged having been thrashed on hips, shoulders, feet and hands.
Stating that Shekhar’s family members firmly believed that Shekhar was brutally tortured by police in the guise of interrogation, the lawyer sought a direction for registration of criminal case against Athmakur Sub-Inspector Lingam and other policemen involved in the custodial torture.
The bench directed the victim to present himself before Suryapet district Medical and Health Officer on Monday to check his health status with the lawyer seeking better treatment to Shekhar at a specialised government institution.
