Pinjore youth was tortured, confirms medical report
A medical board of four doctors of the Panchkula Civil Hospital has confirmed four injuries on an 18-year-old youth of Pinjore, Parvesh Sharma, who was kept in illegal custody by the Panchkula police.
Second accused not sent to judicial custody despite court order.
Sharma was booked under the Arms Act on June 17 for celebratory firing and was arrested on June 25. He had got bail on June 26. Despite being on bail, he was arrested on July 15 and produced before the court the next day with an application for his re-arrest. However, Public Prosecutor Ranvijay Rana had refused to forward the application.
“Sharma had also alleged physical assault at the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) Panchkula premises. Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Kalka, Abhimanyu Rajput, had declared the arrest illegal vide his order dated July 16 and had ordered a medical examination of Sharma, which revealed four injuries,” informed Deepanshu Bansal, counsel for Sharma.
During a hearing on July 18, after perusing the medical report, the SDJM ordered that, “SHO, Police Station Pinjore, and in-charge of CIA unit of Panchkula are hereby directed to preserve CCTV footage from lock-ups, interrogation rooms, corridors, and entry/exit points w.e.f. July 15 (13:00 hours) to July 17 (17:00 hours) till further orders. Footage be immediately secured and not tampered with or overwritten. CIA and SHO stand intimated through IO.”
In terms of directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, dated November 8, 2019, the SDJM said, “Let intimation of the incident of custodial torture be reported to the learned Sessions Judge, Panchkula."
Meanwhile, the police arrested another accused, Neeraj, in the case on July 16. He was produced before the court on July 17 and was sent to judicial custody (to Ambala jail). But he was not sent to Ambala jail. The judge observed, “…it is also brought to knowledge that the accused Neeraj was not kept at Central Jail, Ambala, in contravention of the direction dated July 17 of the court. Accused confirms the same. IO (Investigating Officer Yadwinder Singh) does not deny it. This is apparently an irregular custody.”
A 12-bore country-made “katta” was recovered on Neeraj’s instance. The police added Section 27(2) of the Arms Act to the charges against him. The section is imposed for the use of “prohibited arms” or “prohibited ammunition”. The judge observed that IO was unable to answer when asked how a 12-bore country-made “katta” fell in the definition of “prohibited arms or ammunition”. “SHO has not come present. There is no submission by the investigating agency whether the recovered weapon is: 1. Automatic and specific semi-automatic firearm, 2. Military-grade firearm, 3. Weapons discharging noxious liquids or gases, or 4. Specific prohibited bore.”
The Public Prosecutor stated that the weapon might not fall under the prohibited bore category.
The judge further ordered, “Let the Commissioner of Police (CP), Panchkula, be informed about the complaint of accused Parvesh, statement of accused, and the medical board’s findings of injuries, and also about irregular custody of accused Neeraj, and the need for a departmental inquiry to identify the responsible police personnel, and for taking appropriate disciplinary action.”
The CP was ordered to file an action taken report.
Haryana Tribune