‘Police brutality’ during Covid-19 lockdown: Mumbai police denies allegations

Firdause Irani, advocate and human rights activist, claimed that he himself, his wife and their two sons were assaulted by the local police personnel and civic officials outside their residence at Goregaon (West) on April 16 for no apparent reason.

In an affidavit filed before the Bombay high court (HC), the Mumbai Police has refuted the allegations that a porter was stopped and assaulted by police personnel busy enforcing lockdown restrictions, which were imposed since end-March to contain the spread of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in south Mumbai, and he later succumbed to the injuries.

Police officers walk along an empty road during a lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus in Mumbai, India. (Bloomberg)

Iqbal Gani Avalkar, an inspector attached to south Mumbai’s JJ Marg police station, has filed the affidavit in reply to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate and human rights activist, Firdause Irani, who claimed that he himself, his wife and their two sons were assaulted by the local police personnel and civic officials outside their residence at Goregaon (West) on April 16 for no apparent reason.

Irani claimed that there have been several instances of police excesses under the guise of enforcing lockdown restrictions and cited a report of a human rights organisation that estimated the death toll at 15, including two from Mumbai, in a bid to bolster his argument.

The Mumbai victims were identified as Sameer Jamal Khan and Raju Velu Devendra. Khan and Devendra died after being allegedly assaulted by south Mumbai and Juhu police station personnel, respectively.

Avalkar has claimed that Khan, who was carrying a refrigerator and two bundles of clothes on a handcart to Mumbai’s Null Bazaar neighbourhood, was not stopped by any police personnel while citing closed-circuit TV (CCTV) footage as evidence.

Dattatray Bhargude, an assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Mumbai Police, filed an affidavit stating that the investigation into Devendra’s death has not proceeded further, as the family members of the deceased did not come forward to record their statements, despite repeated requests.

The ACP also pleaded his inability to issue summons to eye-witnesses, as the spot, where the incident occurred, is still off-limits because it has been declared a containment zone for Covid-19 patients.

A two-member division bench, comprising chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice NJ Jamadar, adjourned Irani’s petition for two weeks in a bid to enable Mumbai Police to file an affidavit in reply to the petitioner’s allegations.

On Tuesday, Irani pointed out to the court that after the April 16 incident he has received hundreds of complaints from people having faced similar police excesses during the lockdown restrictions.