Bombay HC seeks report from Maharashtra government on purported police brutality during lockdown

The Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday directed the state government to submit a report disclosing the status of the investigation into police brutality in enforcing

The Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday directed the state government to submit a report disclosing the status of the investigation into police brutality in enforcing the Covid-19 lockdown in the city. The report is expected to shed light on the death of two persons, who allegedly died following excessive use of force by police personnel.

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The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice NJ Jamadar was responding to a petition by advocate Firdause Irani, based on his complaint that he, his wife, and two sons were beaten by local police personnel and civic officials outside his residence at Goregaon (West).

The bench has asked assistant government pleader Jyoti Chavan that the report should also reveal the status of the investigation into Irani’s complaint.

In his petition, Irani, a lawyer and human rights activist said that on the evening of April 16, when he returned to his residence along with his wife, a masked man in plain clothes, charged at them with a lathi. A verbal altercation ensued after he abused the lawyer and his wife.

The petition added that other police personnel and civic staff reached the spot, by which point Irani’s two sons also arrived and pointed out that their parents had not committed any violation. Irani claimed that the police officers then started raining lathi blows on him and his family.

He said that during the past two months, several Mumbai residents have been targeted with impunity by errant police personnel, and no action has been taken. He pointed out a report by a human rights organisation claiming that 15 persons died across the country due to police excesses during the lockdown, of which two cases were from Mumbai.

One of them, according to the report, was Raju Velu Devendra, whose family alleges that on March 30, when they were going to their relative’s residence, a police team chased them and caught the deceased. The policemen reportedly informed the relatives that they were taking Devendra to Juhu police station. In the morning, police informed the family that Devendra was found lying at Nehru Nagar Chowk and when he was taken to a hospital, he was declared dead on arrival.

Police, however, maintain that the 22-year-old was badly beaten by locals when he was caught attempting to commit a robbery. A case has been registered against eight persons in this regard.

In the second case mentioned in the human rights report, on April 18, when Sagir Jamal Khan, a labourer, returned home, he informed his roommate that while he was pushing a handcart to deliver a refrigerator in Null Bazaar, police caught him and beat him on his head, hands and back. Later, while having dinner, Khan collapsed and was declared dead on arrival when he was taken to a hospital.

However, a police officer claimed that Khan’s medical reports revealed that he died due to enlargement of the heart, and there was no external or internal injury on his body.

HC has now posted the petition for further hearing on Friday.