Patna: The two Muslim men who have died due to police torture in custody on March 7 were arrested from Sitamarhi in connection with a robbery and murder case.
The families were shocked to see signs of torture when the Police released the bodies, IBT times reports.
Few college students helping with paperwork took pictures, recorded videos of the injuries on the deceased bodies and have shown it to concerned police authorities.
The incident was then called as ‘Unacceptable’ by the higher authorities.
An FIR was also registered but the names of the five policemen were not mentioned.
“We suspended five policemen including Chandra Bhushan Singh, the officer-in-charge of Dumra police station, in Sitamarhi. They will also face departmental action. If they do not surrender, they can even face dismissal. We have issued a show-cause notice to Sitamarhi SP who has been transferred,” Bihar Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey said.
According to reports, the deceased identified as Gufram and Taslim were arrested from their houses in Ramdiha village on March 6 in connection with a stolen motorbike case and killing of the bike owner Rakesh Kumar a resident of Muzzafarpur.
“We were all asleep when five police jeeps from the local Chakiya police station stopped at our house and asked for Gufran. They said they wanted to question Gufran in connection with a case. Before we could ask anything, they took him away and later also picked up fellow villager Taslim Ansari,” Gufran’s 58-year-old father Munnavar Ali told The Indian Express.
The other Muslim man tortured to nearly death was Taslim who was out on bail and had four criminal cases against him while Gufran had no criminal history.
Gufran’s father visited the Police station on March 6 but could not find him. The next day Gufran’s father was directed to Dumra Police station where Gufran and Taslim both were found in a terrible condition.
Ali says he tried talking to the duo but the could hardly speak with broken legs, ribs.
When the families visited the Dumra police station on the evening of March 6 Gufran and Talsim both were not present in the police station.
“We saw only two women constables. When we asked about Gufran and Taslim, they sent us to Sadar Hospital. There, we were told that both were dead and their postmortem had been conducted. We were not allowed to see the bodies. The bodies were handed over to us the next day,” Gufran’s father-in-law Mohammed Ayub Alam told reporters.
“We have filmed videos and have still photographs of the injury marks caused by iron nails being hammered in. The nails were hammered into their thighs, soles and wrists. The legs of both victims were severely injured. We are waiting for the postmortem report for specific details,” Sabbir Rooney a college student who was helping the two familes with paper work said.
Gufran was an electrician in Qatar while Taslim was a daily wage worker.
The families now demand a Rs 50 lakh compensation and a job for Gufran’s wife as there is no bread earner in Gufran’s family.
“We have no ration card, no Indira Awas house. And even if my son faced a criminal case, it’s the court’s job to deliver the verdict. How can police kill him like this? Is this rule of law the Chief Minister has been talking about?” said Molazim Ansari, Taslim’s father.