MADURAI: The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) had strongly condemned the police custodial torture incidents reported from Ambasamudram in Tamil Nadu where Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Balveer Singh was allegedly involved in plucking the teeth of an accused person in the police station and using ‘cutting plier’ to remove the teeth of accused who were brought to police station for investigation and also the attack on a married person who was hit on his testicles. (The IPS officer Balveer Singh was yesterday suspended from service by the government and the Chief Minister Mr.M.K.Stalin had issued orders yesterday).
In a strongly worded press statement issued on 29th March 2023, PUCL president S.Sankaralingam and general secretary A.John Vincent have urged the Chief Minister that the accused police officer must undergo judicial trail.
“It is pertinent to note that India had signed International Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 1997. Still the convention was not ratified by India. Only on the strength that there is an acquiescence of the State, police resort to firing on the leg, tortured to death as in Sathankulam and other third degree methods continued unabated,” the PUCL had observed in its statement.
The behaviour of IPS officer Balveer Singh at Ambasamudram is highly condemnable. We hear that he inserted crusher stones in the mouth of the accused and slapped on their cheeks. Though he knew that it is fatal, within six months of his assuming post, nearly 40 people suffered removal of teeth. We want the judiciary and the Superintendent of Police to take severe action against him. Torture becomes culture of the police. We welcome that the State government kept him in the ‘waiting list’ and the suo motu enquiry ordered by the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), but there should be a full judicial trial, punish him if found guilty. Mere keeping him in the waiting list etc do not make any change in the attitude of the police department,” the PUCL president and general secretary have appealed.
Pointing out that failure to conduct a thorough probe into the police torture allegations against that particular officer will be considered as “encouraging of the police excess by the State”, the PUCL had demanded the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister who holds the Police department to take severe steps in this case.
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