Hyderabad: A fact-finding team of social activists visited the family, friends and neighbours of Mohammed Khadeer Khan, who died on February 21 following alleged police brutality. It concluded that the Medak police failed to follow the process of law and violated several provisions of CrPC, guidelines and judgments delivered by the Supreme Court and various High Courts in the cases of arrest and detention.
The team came out with 13 pointers report that suggests that Khadeer was tortured and attempts were made to erase the evidence.
Not just Khadeer, but his friend Rizwan and brother-in-law Moin were taken along with the victim and allegedly beaten for hours.
No specific complaint or FIR was registered against Khadeer. “It is merely on the basis of misidentification that he was arrested and tortured,” said the report.
Instead of producing before the regular judicial magistrate, Khadeer was produced before the executive magistrate, raising suspicions that he was arrested on mistaken identification due to footage from the CCTV camera.
“The Medak police personnel came to Hyderabad in a private vehicle (Swift car) with plain clothes and without name tags to arrest Khadeer, thus violating guidelines of the apex court laid down in DK Basu case in arresting and keeping accused in police custody. Moreover, police collected Khadeer’s call data records without any warrants,” the report said.
“It seems that police targeted Khadeer to hide their failure in arresting the real culprit involved in the theft case,” the report stated.
The report alleged that police hesitancy to provide timely medical treatment to Khadeer was “to save their own skin”.
Lastly, the fact-finding team has laid down recommendations to the Director General of Police (DGP). They are as follows:
- Immediate safety and security to all witnesses including Rizwan and Moin who were present at the time of the torture.
- Preservation of medical records and statements of doctors who treated Khadeer.
- File FIRs against the erring police officers under 302 (Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as issue an immediate order to preserve the CCTV footage from January 29 to February 16.
- Speedy trial by appointing a special magistrate and a separate bench.
- Transfer of Medak’s superintendent of police for failing to take timely action against the erring police officials.
- Training for police officials on how to conduct themselves with regards to an investigation as well as the approach with empathy towards the general public.
- Compensation of Rs50 lakh and a government job to Khadeer’s widow by the state government.
“Khadeer was a daily wage worker. His family consists of four persons who were completely dependent on him. Now this family is rendered orphans without male support,” the report concluded.
The fact-finding team of social activists included Khalida Parveen, Murali Karnam, S.Q.Masood, Krishna Kumari, Manga, Deepthi, Kaneez Fathima, Kareema, Farisa Quadri, Naseem Sultana, Gayatri and Fariya.
