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
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 West Bengal<br />
to flee away from police custody on 7 July<br />
2004 while being taken <strong>for</strong> a raid. The<br />
victim was not produced be<strong>for</strong>e the local<br />
Magistrate Court which is mandatory<br />
under the law. Suspecting foul play,<br />
Soumyendu’s family members filed a<br />
complaint on 8 July 2004 at the local<br />
criminal court demanding inquiry into the<br />
custodial death of Soumyendu.<br />
Subsequently on 9 July 2004, the<br />
Kharagpur police attempted to cremate the<br />
victim’s body without the family’s<br />
consent. But the local villagers intervened<br />
and they preserved Soumyendu’s body<br />
under the soil. On 14 July 2004, Apurba<br />
Nag, the officer in charge of the Kharagpur<br />
Police Station, the alleged prime accused,<br />
was transferred to police line. 12<br />
On 8 July 2004, one Md. Anil died at<br />
National Medical College and Hospital,<br />
where he was admitted in a critical<br />
condition. Md. Anil was arrested along<br />
with two others by the East Jadavpur<br />
police at Commint Park in Garia on 2 July<br />
2004 after they allegedly snatched Rs 500<br />
from a taxi driver. Local residents, alerted<br />
by the driver’s cries, <strong>report</strong>edly caught<br />
them and handed over to the police. While<br />
police claimed that Anil was brought to the<br />
police station with serious injuries, local<br />
people attributed his death to torture in the<br />
lock-up. 13<br />
On 25 September 2004, an undertrial<br />
named Dulal Tarafdar died at the<br />
Krishnagar district jail. Police had arrested<br />
him on 22 September 2004 on the charges<br />
of smuggling hemp plants to Bangladesh.<br />
On 23 September 2004, he was remanded<br />
to judicial custody by the Tehatta court.<br />
The Krishnagar district jail authorities<br />
claimed that he had committed suicide<br />
inside the prison by hanging himself with<br />
a towel from the ceiling of his cell in the<br />
morning of 25 September 2004. But the<br />
villagers of Tarakgunj village alleged that<br />
he was tortured to death by the police. 14<br />
On 10 October 2004, Sampad<br />
Mukherjee, an undertrial, died under<br />
mysterious circumstances in his solitary<br />
cell in Presidency Jail in Kolkata. Sampad,<br />
his friend Arijit Pal, mother Manjusha and<br />
brother Jyotirmoy were arrested <strong>for</strong><br />
alleged murder of Kuntal Sain, son of a<br />
businessman at Domurjala, Howrah on the<br />
night of 1 July 2004. Inspector-General of<br />
Police (law and order), Chayan Mukherjee<br />
said that there was no mark of injury on<br />
the body of the deceased and that the<br />
police did not have an idea about the cause<br />
of his death. The body has been sent <strong>for</strong><br />
post mortem. Sampad was a patient of<br />
epilepsy and required regular medication.<br />
During a search of the cell, several strips<br />
of tablets, tubes of ointment, a plastic<br />
container full of white power and several<br />
prescriptions were <strong>report</strong>edly found in the<br />
cell. The powder in the plastic container<br />
was a “surprise” because it was not<br />
mentioned in any of the prescriptions<br />
found, including that of the jail doctor. 15<br />
On 4 December 2004, Biswanath<br />
Mondal, a farmer of Shirsiklaibari village,<br />
Malda district was allegedly killed in cold<br />
blood by two Border Security Force<br />
personnel from the BSF Camp at<br />
Habibpur, Malda. He <strong>report</strong>edly died due<br />
261