Hyderabad: Telangana Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president RS Praveen Kumar on Thursday met with the family of Mohammad Khadeer Khan, the man who lost his life after alleged custodial torture by the Medak police.
Posting the video of the interaction, Praveen said that the family has no hopes of justice under the rule of chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. “Even after the dying declaration of the victim in the video, why is section 320 of the IPC not being filed on the culprits? KCR ji, we don’t want your iftar feasts, we want insaaf,” he said.
Background of the case
Khadeer, the 35-year-old daily wage labourer on February 18 succumbed to the injuries he had sustained due to the alleged torture by the police.
he man was picked up from his sister’s house in Hyderabad on January 29 on suspicion of being involved in a theft case and was brought to Medak.
In a statement while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Medak, he alleged that he was kept in custody for five days and beaten up by policemen though he kept telling them that he was innocent.
“The cops said the person involved looks like me,” he said.
The police let him off on February 2 when he was unable to move his hands. They (police) asked him to tell others that he was kept in custody for one night. They also asked him to sign a paper and as he was unable to even hold the pen, one of the policemen signed the paper.
Due to the alleged torture, Khadeer could not stand on his feet, and his kidneys were also damaged. His wife Siddeshwari, alleged that police used third-degree methods on him. On February 9, he was admitted to a hospital in Medak.
As Khadeer’s condition kept deteriorating, he was referred to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad for better treatment. However, he succumbed to his injuries on February 17 and is survived by his wife and two children.
The Telangana High Court on Monday took suo-moto cognizance of the alleged custodial torture and death case of Mohammed Khadeer in Medak district. Chief Justice of the Telangana High court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan used a media report as a suo motu writ petition and posted the case for hearing on Tuesday.
The court has also issued notices to the Principal Secretary Home Department, Director General of Police, Superintendent of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police Medak District and Station House Officer of the Medak Police Station and sought their replies by Tuesday.
The Telangana High court has also called for remarks and records from the respondents relating to the custodial death of Mohammed Khadeer. The suo-motu writ petition says that Khadeer was a daily wage earner in Medak Police Station who was detained on 27 January 2023 at Medak police station. He was interrogated for allegedly snatching a chain from a woman and was grievously injured as a result of the alleged torture and third-degree treatment meted out to him while he was in police custody.
Thereafter he was rushed to the hospital where his health condition deteriorated and Khadeer was declared dead on 16 February 2023 in Gandhi Hospital.
