annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
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INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Uttar Pradesh<br />
policemen were trying to immerse some<br />
idols of goddess Durga in the morning of<br />
24 October 2004, as those had not been<br />
immersed on the previous night. 13<br />
In April 2004, the NHRC also ordered<br />
the state government to pay an interim<br />
compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the kin of<br />
Harjinder alias Jinda, an undertrial who<br />
died in police custody on 19 August 1999.<br />
Earlier in May 2001, NHRC issued the<br />
direction <strong>for</strong> giving compensation but the<br />
State Government urged that there was no<br />
justification <strong>for</strong> grant of compensation as a<br />
CID inquiry had found that the undertrial<br />
died by jumping into a nallah, canal, while<br />
being taken to the court and allegation of<br />
torture by the police was not established.<br />
Stating that the police officials escorting<br />
the undertrial did not take care to prevent<br />
the risk of “avoidable harm” to him, the<br />
NHRC ruled that the Government was<br />
“vicariously liable” in the matter. 14<br />
In April 2004, the NHRC directed the<br />
Uttar Pradesh Government to pay Rs 1 lakh<br />
as interim relief to the next of kin of an<br />
undertrial prisoner Sher Mohammad, who<br />
died in police custody on 23 February 1996,<br />
a day after his arrest. The magisterial inquiry<br />
<strong>report</strong> stated that Sher Mohammad was<br />
beaten up by the Station House Officer and<br />
had died as a result of police torture. The<br />
post mortem <strong>report</strong> found out that his death<br />
was caused by shock and haemorrhage due<br />
to injuries in police custody. 15<br />
ii. Torture<br />
Police torture is rampant in Uttar<br />
Pradesh.<br />
246<br />
On 25 January 2004, one Pankaj Giri,<br />
a tea vendor, was allegedly thrown off the<br />
speeding Chhattisgarh Express by three<br />
Government Railway Police (GRP)<br />
constables near Kosi Kalan in Mathura<br />
district. However, Pankaj survived having<br />
lost his both legs in the incident. The<br />
victim alleged that the GRP constables<br />
tried to kill him when he refused to accede<br />
to their demands <strong>for</strong> money. 16<br />
On 7 June 2004, one Brahma Dutt<br />
Tyagi alias Titu was picked up by Sub-<br />
Inspector Amir Kumar, in-charge of the<br />
Rajinder Nagar police station in<br />
Ghaziabad district and was illegally<br />
detained in the police station <strong>for</strong> three<br />
days. He was allegedly tortured brutally.<br />
The Sub-Inspector allegedly demanded Rs<br />
30,000 from the victim <strong>for</strong> his release.<br />
Soon after he had been released from the<br />
police lock-up, he was arrested again <strong>for</strong><br />
allegedly possessing drugs and sent to jail.<br />
The victim was allegedly picked up after<br />
his car broke down near Sahibabad<br />
Railway Road on the way to Delhi. 17<br />
On 11 October 2004, eight persons<br />
were <strong>report</strong>edly injured, one of them<br />
critically, when an army jawan fired from<br />
his gun following an altercation between<br />
him and some persons including a tempo<br />
driver over hire charges at the Belthra<br />
Colony in Balia district. The accused<br />
jawan was later arrested by the police. 18<br />
III. Violence against women<br />
The National Commission <strong>for</strong> Women<br />
(NCW) <strong>report</strong>edly received as many as<br />
2,580 complaints from Uttar Pradesh out