Woman dies in judicial custody, kin allege torture

GHAZIABAD: A 45-year-old woman, an accused in a murder case, died at a government hospital in Delhi on Monday following alleged custodial torture at Tronica City police station.
However, the police have denied the allegations levelled by the family of the woman, identified as Sarita, a resident of Nauraspur in Loni.

According to a statement issued by police, Sarita was arrested from her rented accommodation in Banthla on Sunday around 4 pm and sent for a medical examination at the community health centre in Loni one hour later. She was subsequently presented before a magistrate and sent to a 14-day judicial custody.

However, while she was at the Dasna jail, her health started to deteriorate and she was rushed to MMG district hospital. From there she was referred to GTB Hospital and then to GB Pant Hospital where she died early on Monday. The woman’s 16-year-old daughter, who stays at Nauraspur, claimed her mother was beaten up by the cops who came to arrest her.

“The cops came in a private car and were accompanied by three locals. My grandmother called me up and informed me about the arrest. When I reached Tronica City police station around 5 pm, I saw her vomiting incessantly. I asked the cops there to take her to a doctor but they ignored my request and said she was doing this to divert attention. When I insisted, cops later took her away with them, and I returned home,” she said. The girl alleged that police later came to her house around 1am and asked her to accompany them to GTB Hospital as her mother was ill and admitted there. “I refused to go with them as it was too late at night. They came to my place twice in an interval of two hours. I finally agreed to go and was taken to GB Pant Hospital where she lying on a hospital bed. The officers said she was sleeping. But doctors said she had died around one-and-half-hour ago,” she alleged. When contacted, SP (rural) A K Maurya said, “The allegations levelled by Sarita’s family are completely false. She was taken to a government hospital for the medical examination and later provided medical care when she became ill.”

Even the official statement issued by the SSP office stated that “no injury (was) present at the time of examination” and Sarita was “not cooperating during medical examination.” According to police, Sarita, her husband Deepak Tyagi and five others were booked for the murder of one Brijeshwar Tyagi (55), a Nauraspur resident, last March. Tyagi was shot dead by bike-borne assailants. Later, Deepak and other accused were arrested and sent to jail. Sarita had got a stay on her arrest from the Allahabad High Court till the filing of the charge sheet. Police filed the charge sheet on October 21, 2017, and since then she had been at large.