HC orders probe into ‘custodial rape’

In the complaint, it has been alleged that the middle-aged woman, taken into custody on August 14, was tortured, stripped and violated using a baton by seven police officers, including a woman officer, in a police station.

As the matter was brought before the court, the HC ordered a district judge in Coimbatore to conduct an immediate probe and make arrangements for the victim’s treatment.

The affidavit filed by the daughter of the murder-accused stated that she came to know about the custodial torture and harassment when she met her mother at the Coimbatore prison four days after the alleged incident. It, however, does not mention the date of the incident.

Deposing before Justice Sumathi (the complainant had approached the HC after her petition was dismissed by a lower court), she said after hanging her upside down in the lock up, they “beat my mother with lathi on her thighs, back and legs. She had severe bleeding following the torture.”

The petitioner also alleged that the police officers threatened her mother of taking her obscene photographs and circulating those through newspapers, besides booking her for running a brothel.

Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar Singh, however, denied the allegations and said the accused was taken into custody based on circumstantial evidences of a murder. Maintaining that a woman officer was present during the interrogation, he argued that the allegation actually does not amount to rape in the “conventional” way. “She did not raise these complaints before the magistrate or the medical examiner during the remand process. We have conducted an internal probe and it can be proved that the allegations are false,” he said.

Arguing that such a “sexual torture” amounts to rape as per sections 375 and 376 of the IPC, the petitioner said the police officers had kept her mother under shock and traumatised to prevent any disclosure before the magistrate. The complainant also alleged that she was offered money by the police to bury the matter.

“This report is shocking. Unfortunately, this is part of the continuing saga of custodial torture and violence in Tamil Nadu. Even after several such cases, there is not a single incident in which the police initiated a probe and ensured justice for the victims without court intervention,” said V Suresh, human rights activist and leader of PUCL.