SHRC confirms police brutality on Sreejith

P. Mohana Das, Acting Chairman, State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), on Thursday confirmed the charge of police brutality on Sreejith, the 26-year-old youth who died at a private hospital on Sunday.

As part of its probe, the commission on Thursday visited the Varappuzha police station, where Sreejith had been kept in custody for more than 24 hours, and examined the documents pertaining to his arrest.

According to Mr. Mohana Das, an examination of the medical certificate issued by the Medical Officer, Government Hospital, North Paravur, suggested that Sreejith had been subjected to brutal torture in police custody.

“Sreejith was taken into custody on Friday night, and he had no major health problems while being produced at the government hospital the next day morning. He was kept in police custody until he was admitted to a private hospital on Sunday morning in a critical condition. This suggests that Sreejith had sustained injuries in police custody,” the commission said, adding that the statements of witnesses also corroborated the point.

Directing the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to produce the police officers who had assaulted Sreejith, the commission noted that Sreejith was not part of the group that had attacked Vasudevan’s house at Devaswompadam.

Meanwhile, the commission registered a suo moto case on the report that as many as 1,129 police officers in the State were accused in various criminal cases and issued directions to initiate action against them under Section 86 of the Kerala Police Act. It also sought a report to this effect from the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police within 30 days.

While Action 86 of the Kerala Police Act clearly states that if an officer is found to be an accused in an offence involving proclivity for violence or moral turpitude, he has to be placed under suspension and thereafter removed from service after being given an opportunity to prove his innocence.

‘Offenders spared’

“But no effort is seen to be taken by the higher authorities of the police to invoke the above provisions against these officers. At least the officers, irrespective of their ranks, if involved in criminal cases, should be placed and posted on the civil side of the department instead of posting them to serve law and order duty,” the commission held. According to the report, the accused also included 10 Deputy Superintendents of Police, 45 Circle Inspectors, and 230 sub inspectors.