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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Chhattisgarh
Mandi. The police buried the body under
the pretext that he was unidentified even as
his relatives were searching for him. After
20 days when his parents came to Baloda
searching for him that they were informed
about his death. 10
On 6 October 2004, a Dalit youth,
Banau Satnami hailing from Sodha village
allegedly died in police custody at Pipriya
under Kawardha district. 11 His body was
recovered from a field a few metres away
from the police station adjacent to a power
sub-station of the Chhattisgarh State
Electricity Board. Police claimed that the
youth died of electrocution by hightension
overhead wires. The deceased had
been summoned to Pipriya police station
on 5 October 2004 for interrogation in a
case relating to an attempt to murder in his
village. However, villagers claimed that
the policemen killed him first and then
tried to project it as suicide. A magisterial
inquiry was ordered. 12
On 14 October 2004, Santosh Sahu of
village Kosmandi, Raipur district, was
found hanging from a tree outside the
village. On 9 October 2004, Santosh Sahu
was summoned to the Pallari police for
interrogation in connection with a theft
case at the house of one Bodhan Verma of
the same village. Police said that Sahu was
interrogated by Assistant Sub-Inspector
Devangan in the presence of the village
Sarpanch and Kotwar, and released later. 13
However, Chattisgarh Sahu Samaj, whose
delegation made a spot verification,
alleged that during interrogation he was
pressurised to confess his involvement in
48
the burglary and was threatened. On 12
October 2004, the deceased went to
operate pump in the fields but went
missing since then. He was found hanging
from a tree. Santosh Sahu’s knees were
reportedly found touching the ground and
the rope was loose. 14
In October 2004, 14-year-old Dalit
boy, Santlal Gad allegedly died due to
brutal torture by police at Devbhog in
Raipur district. Devbhog police had picked
him up from his residence at Rajapra in
connection with a theft case. He was
handcuffed and beaten up in front of his
parents. Even his aged parents were beaten
up when they tried to urge the police to
stop the torture. The police kept beating
him all along the way to the police station.
After he returned home, he succumbed to
the injuries. 15
On 24 October 2004 night, Mannu
Koropi, an accused in a rape case, of
Michgaon allegedly committed suicide in
Maanpur police station in Rajnandgaon
district by consuming poison. The police
claimed that he reached the police station
of his own after having consumed poison.
When he began vomiting, the police
rushed him to the primary health centre at
Maanpur from where he was referred to
Rajnandgaon District Hospital but he died
on the way. Police claimed to have
recovered a suicide note from the deceased
specifying that he was taking the extreme
step as “he failed to live with her”. Local
Congress MLA Uday Mudallar however
charged that the youth committed suicide
as police subjected extreme pressure on