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18 Pune cops booked over alleged assault, public parade of adults, children
Maharashtra CID filed two FIRs against 18 Pune police personnel for custodial assault and illegal detention of adults and children at Bharati Vidyapeeth station.
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The Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department (CID) has registered two FIRs naming 18 Pune police personnel, including senior officers, over allegations of custodial assault, illegal detention and public humiliation of four adults and eight children in conflict with law at Bharati Vidyapeeth Police Station.
The cases, filed by CID deputy superintendent Sanket Satish Gosavi with the investigation assigned to additional director general of police Sunil Ramanand, were registered early on Thursday following findings of the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC).
The first FIR names 13 police personnel in connection with the alleged assault and public humiliation of four adults who had surrendered at the police station in connection with an earlier case.
According to the FIR, the four surrendered around 3pm on July 5, but their arrests were recorded only at about 10.30pm. They were allegedly assaulted with sticks and batons inside the police station before being produced before a magistrate on July 6 and remanded to police custody until July 9.
The FIR alleges that on July 7, the four were taken to an SRA colony near Lake Town, where they were allegedly made to sit and walk on their knees on the road, beaten with sticks and batons, and forced to apologise publicly.
The complaint cites video footage and statements of police personnel present at the spot in support of the allegations. It also notes that there were no corresponding entries in the general diary or police vehicle logbook regarding the visit.
The personnel named include the then senior inspector Mansingh Patil, PSIs Anna Madhukar Darade and Nilesh Rajendra Mokashi, head constable Sunil Dada Hanwate and constables Sagar Chandrakant Borge, Soham Kailas Shendkar, Rahul Ashok Aundhkar, Mitesh Dattatray Chormole, Ravindra Shankar Gaikwad and Sandeep Laxman Agale. Three others are identified only by their surnames — Fakir, Sutar and Pawar.
The second FIR names 11 personnel, including Patil, assistant police inspectors Ganesh Mohite and Snehal Thorat, PSI Mokashi and personnel Hanwate, Chormole, Borge, Shendkar, Dinesh Tapke, Mangesh Pawar and Suvarna Dattatray Bhise, over the alleged illegal detention, assault and public humiliation of eight children in conflict with law who had been detained in connection with another crime.
According to the FIR, four children were taken into custody on July 20 and brought to the police station the following day. Three more were brought around 8.30pm on July 21 and the eighth around noon on July 22. All eight were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board on July 25.
The FIR alleges that seven children were kept for more than three days and the eighth for more than 24 hours. It alleges that the children were assaulted with bamboo sticks and belts, while police records were prepared to show that some had been handed over to their parents or guardians. CCTV footage and statements made by the children before the board have been cited in support.
The complaint alleges that some children were taken along the road between the Ambegaon Pathar police outpost and Bharati Vidyapeeth Police Station with a rope tied to a police vehicle and publicly paraded. Police personnel allegedly identified them as accused in a murder case.
The FIR alleges caste-based abuse and public humiliation of four children belonging to Scheduled Caste communities. It invokes provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Six personnel are common to both FIRs, taking the number of individual police personnel named across the two cases to 18.
The FIRs follow an MSHRC order on September 9 directing the state to initiate criminal action after its fact-finding inquiry into the two incidents. The commission found allegations of custodial violence and illegal detention and directed that the investigation be conducted by an officer of ADGP rank or above, as the allegations also concerned Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar, an ADGP-rank officer.
The commission had taken suo motu cognisance after videos of the alleged treatment of the children surfaced. Its inquiry found that three children were allegedly tied with ropes to the bonnet of a police vehicle and paraded from the Ambegaon Pathar outpost to Bharati Vidyapeeth police station on July 21, a finding it said was supported by oral and electronic evidence.
The MSHRC criticised the police’s internal inquiry, saying statements of the children allegedly subjected to the treatment had not been recorded and describing the inquiry as one-sided. It also noted that the children had not been produced before the Juvenile Justice Board within the prescribed period.
