Sikar Dalit teen died due to police torture: Family

Jaipur: After a 17-year-old Dalit boy undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jaipur died on Wednesday, his parents alleged that his death was caused by custodial thrashing at Laxmangarh police station in Sikar, where he was detained for some a few hours 14 days ago.
The boy’s family was unwilling to take his body for cremation and demanded suspension of the “policemen responsible for his death”, an ex-gratia of Rs 40 lakh and a government job for one person in the family. But the family agreed for his cremation on Wednesday evening as it was found that the boy was suffering from liver and kidney ailments along with hepatitis when he came to the police station.
Police on Thursday said the family had not lodged any complaint about custodial thrashing and that they only demanded a fair investigation into the boy’s death.
“The boy was called to the police station on August 16 for interrogation on the suspicion that he had stolen a bike. On August 17, after his father approached the police station saying the boy was suffering from liver and kidney diseases along with hepatitis, he was allowed to go with his father,” said Sikar SP Kunwar Rastradeep.
He said the family’s allegations were “baseless” as the family had not even lodged any complaint about any custodial thrashing. After his release, the boy spitted blood and was taken to a hospital in Sikar, from where he was referred to different hospitals in Jaipur, said a police official.
“After he died in the early hours on Wednesday, the family organised a sit-in dharna at the hospital and accused police of thrashing the boy badly in custody. They said they would not take his body for funeral,” said the official.
He further said that before the boy was taken in custody, a doctor at Sikar had examined him and it was found that he had infection in liver and kidney.
“He was released on the doctor’s advice. The allegations by his family are baseless. He was released from custody on August 17, and he died on August 31,” he added.