The Vidisha police have divested a sub-inspector of important duties and launched an inquiry into the alleged thrashing of a man, a suspect in a kidnapping case, by personnel at a police station on June 4.
“We are totally against such behaviour,” said Vinayak Verma, district Superintendent of Police. The Additional Superintendent will conduct the inquiry and submit a report within a week. “It is yet to be established whether the man was present at the Sironj police station when the alleged incident took place.”
The reported victim, Santosh Vanshkar, a labourer, was named by a family in a police complaint regarding their missing daughter. Based on this, a case was registered, said Rajesh Sinha, in charge of the police station. “Later Mr. Vanshkar complained to the police about the reported thrashing, based on which the officer has been line-attached,” he said.
Meanwhile, the M.P. Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognisance of the incident on June 8 and directed Mr. Verma to submit a report by June 10.
Referring to news reports, the Commission said, “The police thrashed him with belts and pipes so severely that even now parts of his body are sore and two fingers are broken.” The Commission has asked the police if Mr. Vanshkar was called to the Sironj police station on June 4 and kept inside a lock-up on the intervening night of June 4 and 5.
It has also asked the crime for which a case was registered against him.