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