India Tomorrow
New Delhi, July 3— The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday rejected a plea that had sought an SIT probe into custodial death of two Muslim youths, and asked the petitioner to move the Patna High Court. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected the plea filed by former IAS officer Sajjad Hasan on behalf of civil rights group ‘Citizens Against Hate’.
The police had picked Gufran Alam, 30, and Taslim Ansari, 32, from their homes in East Champaran district on March 6 this year in a case of alleged theft and murder case. The Police took them to Sitamarhi district and next day informed their families about their death. They had been brutally tortured in the custody and even nails had been hammered into their bodies.
Filed by a civil group ‘Citizens Against Hate’ through its convener Sajjad Hassan, a former IAS officer, the petition had sought a magisterial probe and an SIT probe under the watch of retired DGP of any other state, alleging that the state government has shielded the guilty police personnel, says a report in LiveLaw.in.
The signs of tortured on their bodies were noticed when they were being given final bath before funeral prayers.
“According to the family members of the deceased, when the bodies were handed over to them, the noticed indications of brutal torture in custody with signs of nails hammered in their thighs and wrist, injuries to private parts, electric shocks, broken bones etc. The post-mortem report, however, did not record anything,” says the report.
“Photos and a video clip of their bodies being washed before their burial showed marks of nails hammered into them,” says The Indian Express. They were picked in connection with the theft of a motorcycle and murder of its owner Rakesh Kumar who was resident of Muzaffarpur district, says the daily.
Their families had shared these details with the police and then an FIR was registered for murder of the two and five policemen were suspended.
However, the petitioner has alleged that the doctors, as part of the cover-up to shield the accused cops, reversed their findings. The petition notes that none of the five suspended policemen were named in the FIR.
