The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report over a recent video that showed Coimbatore police personnel beating up a 16-year-old boy following a quarrel over his parents keeping an eatery open during the COVID-19 lockdown.
SHRC member, A. Chittaranjan Mohandoss, directed the Coimbatore Police Commissioner to file the report within two weeks.
According to a media report, police personnel attached to Rathinapuri Police Station beat up the 16-year-old boy, who was helping his parents at their small eatery. The police had asked his parents to close the eatery, which was functioning beyond the permissible time at night, during the lockdown.
The boy is said to have been video-recording the incident on his mobile phone when a policeman allegedly snatched his phone and was about to leave on a bike. The boy then attempted to snatch the policeman’s bike key, following which he was beaten up in front of his parents and members of the public. The entire sequence of events was video-recorded on a mobile phone by a bystander. The police are said to have beaten up the person who recorded the events as well.
