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‘Tortured to confess to husband’s murder’: Kerala woman after he is found alive
Konni DSP T Rajappan rejected the Afsana’s allegations of torture, saying the CCTV footage at the police station was available
KOCHI: A 25-year-old woman in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, who was arrested on July 27 for misleading officers probing her husband’s disappearance since November 2021, on Sunday alleged that she was tortured by police personnel to extract her confession that she had killed him.
The woman, Afsana, walked out on bail from Thiruvananthapuram’s prison for women on Sunday after her husband, Noushad, was found alive about 100km away in Thodupuzha in Idukki district on Friday.
Afsana told reporters outside the jail complex that she confessed to killing her husband because of the torture at Koodal police station.
“Police officials including women personnel beat me a lot. They used pepper spray in my mouth. They starved me for two days without food and water and threatened to make my father an accused in the case. When they said that they will not let me see my two children, I did what they said. They were abusive and tortured me to say that I killed Noushad and buried him,” Afsana said.
“They did not let me sleep at all,” she said, adding that the police took her to various places to “find” Noushad’s body and she did as they said.
T Rajappan, deputy superintendent of police, Konni, rejected allegations of torture. “We have the CCTV footage of her statements and witnesses as well. A detailed inquiry will prove it,” he said.
Noushad, who was found living on a farm, told reporters that he left home after an attack on him following a quarrel with his wife.
“I had an argument with Afsana and she left the house. A while later, about 10-20 men barged into the house and beat me. I don’t know who they were. The next morning, I decided to run away fearing for my life. When I heard reports that I was killed and buried, I was shocked. I just want to see my (two) children now,” he told a local TV channel.
Afsana said that there had been problems between the two since marriage and alleged that he was an alcoholic and beat her. “I don’t know why he ran away,” she said, claiming that he did disappear for a week or a month in the past after they quarrelled. She denied allegations that she got her husband beaten up.
