5 Bathinda cops indicted in custodial death case move HC for relief
The five police personnel, including an inspector, who were posted in the crime investigation agency (CIA)-1, filed a petition in the HC on March 17, seeking quashing of criminal proceedings initiated by a Bathinda district court
The five Bathinda police personnel who were indicted in a judicial probe for subjecting a man to ‘waterboarding’, a type of severe torture, to death in custody have moved the Punjab and Haryana high court for relief.
Waterboarding is a notorious technique in which water is poured into the nostrils and the mouth of a victim, to evoke the sensation of asphyxiation by drowning.
The five police personnel, including an inspector, who were posted in the crime investigation agency (CIA)-1, filed a petition in the HC on March 17, seeking quashing of criminal proceedings initiated by a Bathinda district court.
Justice Sanjeev Berry heard the matter on March 17 and passed a one-line order: “The matter be listed before some other bench after soliciting appropriate orders from the chief justice.”
According to information available, the HC has not listed the petition so far.
A fact-finding report by Bathinda judicial magistrate first class (JMIC) Kuldeep Singh filed on February 18 said that inspector Navpreet Singh, the then head of CIA-1, head constable Rajwinder Singh and three constables— Gaganpreet Singh, Harjit Singh, Jaswinder Singh — be tried for murder, causing disappearance of evidence and other offences.
They were found to be responsible for the death of Bhinder Singh, a resident of Lakhi Jungle village in Bathinda, who was taken into ‘illegal custody’ in October last year, leading to his death by the ‘police torture’.
The panel held that the accused cops had attempted to cover up the incident with a ‘fabricated’ story.
The findings relied on digital and forensic evidence, and a government doctor’s testimony stating the victim was tortured to death.
However, after the JMIC ordered a trial, the accused continued to ‘skip’ court summons.
While the accused were sent to police headquarters after the incident, no departmental action was initiated against them.
The trial court expressed ‘annoyance’ over the stated facts that cops were granted a ‘long leave’ by the Bathinda police and warrants issued against them were still not executed.