Four months after a 19-year-old was allegedly tortured in police custody, the police on Saturday registered an FIR of assault against unidentified people.
However, the family of the youth, Rajan Prajapati, who hail from Baliya in Uttar Pradesh and lived in Lohara, alleged that while he had lost his mental balance and was still undergoing treatment, instead of taking action against the cops concerned, the police delayed the matter and registered FIR against unidentified accused.
“Rajan was a tailor and worked with a mason on Sundays,” said his father Suresh Prajapati. “On October 20, 2019, Rajan along with the mason was on the way back home when they saw some people scuffling near Eastman Chowk. One of the groups confused him as a rival and thrashed him before handing him over to the Kanganwal police,” said Suresh.
Suresh said the next morning, his wife, Poonam Devi, visited Rajan at the Kanganwal police post, who told her about the incident. “The police officials told us that they will release him after questioning, but called us at night to come and take Rajan to the hospital. We reached there and found that Rajan had two broken teeth and was unable to walk. We rushed him to the civil hospital,” said Suresh, adding that Rajan told him that the police personnel had tortured him to know the name of the twelve persons involved in the brawl.
Suresh added that he had taken Rajan to senior police officials, where he had even identified one of the perpetrators, but no action was taken. Rajan’s mother Poonam Devi said, “Rajan had started getting afraid of people and shadows. We did not have enough money, so we sent him to his maternal uncle in Uttar Pradesh for treatment. We lost hope for justice a long ago.”
{{/usCountry}}Suresh added that he had taken Rajan to senior police officials, where he had even identified one of the perpetrators, but no action was taken. Rajan’s mother Poonam Devi said, “Rajan had started getting afraid of people and shadows. We did not have enough money, so we sent him to his maternal uncle in Uttar Pradesh for treatment. We lost hope for justice a long ago.”
{{/usCountry}}When contacted, additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, city 2) Jaskiranjit Singh Teja said, “The family had complained directly to the police commissioner. The case has been registered following an inquiry. I will check the facts and the police will do justice to the victim.”
The Sahnewal police have registered the FIR under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against unidentified accused on the complaint of Poonam Devi.