annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

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