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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Delhi
personnel and other passengers allegedly
kicked and punched the deceased all over
the body due to which he suffered severe
internal injuries and collapsed on the spot.
He was rushed to hospital where he was
declared dead. The army personnel were
arrested. 12
On 22 June 2004, an undertrial of
Tihar Jail, Nirmal Kumar, 40, of Nangal
Raya village in West Delhi allegedly
committed suicide using his shoestrings to
hang himself from the grill in Tihar jail no.
4. The jail officials claimed that Kumar
was depressed as he expected to be
awarded death penalty for the crime. He
had been undergoing trial for the past
seven years for raping and killing an 11year-old
girl. 13
On the evening of 5 July 2004, a
patrol party of the Sabzi Mandi police
station spotted one Promad hailing from
Sitapuri in Uttar Pradesh moving
suspiciously at the Nehru Park under Sabzi
Mandi police station in North district of
Delhi. The police arrested him under
section 109 Criminal Procedure Code and
lodged him inside the police station lock
up at 9 pm. According to the police,
following black out of the area due to load
shedding there was no light in the police
station for about one and half hour from
9.30 pm to 11 pm. At 10 pm, SHO Safdar
Ali saw the body of Pramod hanging by
his shirt from the grill gate of the lock up.
Constable Umesh Rai, who was on sentry
duty at that time, had gone to see the duty
officer to enquire about restoration of
electricity. Pramod was rushed to Hindu
54
Rao Hospital where he was declared
brought dead. 14
On the night of 16 August 2004,
Deepak Yadav, an alleged pickpocket died
under mysterious circumstances at Ram
Monohar Lohia hospital. While the
relatives of the victim alleged police had
beaten the deceased to death, the police
claimed he was a pickpocket and died
when he jumped out from the moving bus
in an attempt to flee on 12 August 2004.
He was then admitted to the Ram Manohar
Lohia Hospital where he died. 15
At around 9.30 a.m on 11 May 2004, a
32-year-old rickshaw-puller Nandu, who
had entered Old Delhi railway station
without a platform ticket, was allegedly
beaten to death by an assistant subinspector
of the Railway Protection Force
(RPF) B.K. Singh and two other RPF men
on duty. The victim was murderously
assaulted for his unauthorized entry in the
railway station and using the toilet. 16
III. Arbitrary arrest, detention and
torture
Arbitrary arrest and torture were
widely reported in Delhi. The victims
were tortured either to extract confessions,
obtain bribes, settle personal disputes or
sometimes due to lawless law
enforcement.
At around 2 p.m. on 15 February
2004, a businessman Nand Gopal
Aggarwal of Shastri Nagar was allegedly
beaten up for the failure to pay bribes at
Dhaula Kuan. He was allegedly taken to
the Chanakyapuri Police Station and