The police sub-inspector attached to Gonibeedu Police Station in Mudigere taluk of Chikkamagaluru allegedly forced a Scheduled Castes youth to drink urine in his custody recently. The incident came to light after the youth wrote to senior police officers seeking action against the PSI.
Based on the complaint filed by Punith, Punit K.L, a resident of Kirangunda, the Gonibeedu police registered a case against PSI Arjun on Saturday evening. The case has been booked on under sections of the IPC related to wrongful confinement, causing hurt, torture, wrongful confinement to extort a confession, besides the provisions under the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The Gonibeedu police had taken custody of Punit around 11 a.m. on May 10, based on oral complaints by villagers, who alleged that he was responsible for discord between a man and his wife in the village. The police then took him to the police station. Punit, speaking to The Hindu over the phone, alleged that the police beat him up for a couple of hours.
At one point, he requested for water and PSI, refusing to give him water, made Chetan, who was in the lock-up in connection with a theft case, urinate on Punith’s face, alleged Punit. “Chethan refused initially. But he was forced to urinate on me as he was threatened that he would also be subjected to severe torture. Later, the officers made me lick the urine on the floor,” Punith said.
The police let him go home only late in the night at 10.30 pm. “All this was done without a complaint against me,” he said.
After Punith wrote to the SP and other senior officers about the incident, Chikkamagaluru Superintendent of Police Akshay M. Hakay ordered a preliminary inquiry into the incident by DySP of Chikkamagaluru sub-division. The enquiry officer also recorded Punith’s statement.
When The Hindu contacted Mr. Hakay, on Saturday, he said preliminary enquiry had been completed and the officer had been shifted from the police station. “Now departmental inquiry will be done. If he is found guilty, the official will get maximum punishment,” he said. However, SP refused to share the outcome of the preliminary enquiry.
