Police brutality: Sub-inspector suspended

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant has suspended Byatarayanapura Police station’s Sub-Inspector Harish, for allegedly assaulting a 22-year-old man in custody. The Commissioner said that further action would be taken after the departmental enquiry.

An ACP level officer has been appointed to investigate the allegations and submit a report to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Bengaluru. The preliminary round of investigations showed that the sub-inspector, Harish, is likely to have been involved. In a video that went viral on social media on Monday, the victim, Tausif, is seen claiming that police barged into his house on the night of December 1 and took him to the police station. He was kept in custody for two days during which time he was tortured constantly.

Tausif alleged that he was beaten with a cricket bat, made to drink urine when he asked for water and also that the policemen made derogatory remarks against his religion. “They threatened me, saying they would file a kidnapping case and have me imprisoned for two years,” he said. The victim’s family showed images of the bruises on his back, thighs and other parts of his body to the media.In a similar incident, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka Police had arrested a police sub-inspector for allegedly forcing a Dalit man to drink urine in September.