The Bengaluru city police has suspended a police sub-inspector for allegedly assaulting a 23-year-old Muslim youth in a police station and forcing him to drink urine.
The suspended police sub-inspector, Harish K N, was attached to the Byatarayanapura police station.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Sanjeev M Patil told The Indian Express an interim report was submitted on Monday, based on which Harish was suspended for dereliction of duty, not reporting to the police station, and for not registering the case. A departmental inquiry has also been ordered to probe the allegations made by the victim’s family.
Tausif Pasha (23) was taken to the police station on Thursday at around 1 am over a quarrel with a neighbour. Tausif’s father Aslam Pasha said his son was assaulted, and the cops demanded money for Tausif’s release. “But we never knew that Tausif was subject to brutal torture till he came out of the police station,” said the father.
Tausif said Harish and two other police constables, including one from the crime team, hit him in the abdomen with a bat, forcibly cut his beard and forced him to drink urine. “They hit me with cricket bat at least 30 times and when I asked them for water to drink, they made me drink urine. They also cut my beard. I begged them not to do so as it was part of my faith, but they said this (police station) was not a religious centre. They also made me clean the police station,” he said.
Aslam said Tausif was released after the intervention of MLA BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan. The victim’s family said Tausif was admitted to Victoria Hospital and was discharged on Monday. They also showed images of bruises on his back, thighs, and other parts of his body.
DCP Patil, who had sought a report from the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of the sub-division, submitted the report on Monday evening.
This is the third incident of police torture reported in Karnataka recently. Earlier this month, Varthur police station in Bengaluru was in news for an incident of custody torture. In the incident, Salman, a 22-year-old youth who was allegedly illegally detained for three days in connection with a theft case, had to undergo surgery to amputate his right arm after cops allegedly brutally assaulted him. One police head constable and two police constables were suspended following the report.
This story first appeared on indianexpress.com