The police sub-inspector attached to Gonibeedu Police Station in Mudigere taluk of Chikkamagaluru allegedly forced a Scheduled Caste youth to drink urine in his custody recently. The incident came to light after the youth wrote to senior police officers seeking action against the sub-inspector.
Gonibeedu police took custody of Punit K.L, a resident of Kirangunda, around 11 a.m. on May 10, based on oral complaints by villagers, who alleged that he was responsible for the discord between a man and his wife in the village. The police forced him into their vehicle and took him to the police station. Punit, speaking to The Hindu over the phone, said that the police beat him up for a couple of hours.
At one point, he requested for water as he was feeling thirsty. The PSI, refusing to give him water, made Chetan, who was in the lock-up in connection with a theft case, urinate on Punith’s face. “Chethan refused to do it initially. But he was forced to urinate on me as he was threatened that he would also be subjected to severe torture. Later, the officers made me lick the urine drops on the floor”, Punith said.
The police let him go home only late in the night at 10.30 pm. “All this was done without a complaint against me. I felt I should have died at the moment itself”, he said.
After Punith wrote to the SP and other senior officers about the incident, Chikkamagaluru Superintendent of Police Akshay M. Hakay ordered a preliminary inquiry into the incident by DySP of Chikkamagaluru sub-division. The enquiry officer also recorded Punith’s statement.
When The Hindu contacted Mr. Hakay, on Saturday, he said the preliminary enquiry had been completed and the officer had been shifted from the police station. “Now departmental inquiry will be done. If he is found guilty, the official will get maximum punishment”, he said. However, the SP refused to share the content of the preliminary enquiry.
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