The tragic end of a trader of 60 years and of his son who were brutally beaten by police after being accused of not respecting the curfew put in place to combat the COVID pandemic – 19 aroused indignation in India.
Posted on July 5 2020 at 7 a.m. 00
La Presse
A major solidarity movement has formed on social networks in support of the families of the two men from the state of Tamil Nadu in the south of the country.
After reviewing autopsy reports of serious injuries and hearing the findings of an investigator responsible for the case, a local court on Thursday ordered the laying of charges against five police officers for the murder.
Three other law enforcement officials have been accused of obstructing justice after refusing to cooperate with the authorities.
One of the alleged perpetrators told the investigator that he “could not do anything” against him, which indicates a feeling of impunity.
Threats were also made against a policewoman who had agreed to testify after having obtained the assurance that she would be placed under protection.
Several local media reported that the beaten trader, identified as P. Jeyaraj, was taken to the station on 19 June for narrowly exceeding the state curfew. Her son is said to have tried to defend himself before things got worse.
The family claims that the two men were repeatedly beaten with sticks throughout the night and subjected to multiple beatings before being presented in the morning to a magistrate, who recommended their transfer to prison on the based on a fake medical security certificate, without asking any questions about their poor condition. They died a few days later.
“The police have little or no accountability”
Human Right Watch, which investigated the subject, notes that the deaths in detention “unfortunately do not represent” isolated events in India.
“The police in the country regularly use torture and contravene the procedures laid down in the event of arrest, and they have little or no accountability,” said an organization's researcher, Jayshree Bajoria, who urged the government to ratify the Torture Convention to make a difference.
PHOTO SAM PANTHAKY, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Citizens are arrested by the police during a demonstration against the rise in gas prices, in Ahmedabad, India, on 29 June.
“There is total impunity” for the police responsible for torture, said Paritosh Chakma, who oversees a group of NGOs who published an alarming report on the scale of police violence in the country last week. .
Their analysis indicates that more than 1700 people died in detention in 2019, on average almost five a day, and that 125 of these cases had occurred under police control.
Close to 75% of these 125 cases allegedly resulted in torture, according to the organization, which cites the use of nails and needles , electric shocks and nail pulling as some of the methods used.
Abuses, said Chakma in a press release, mainly affect poor people and people from marginalized communities, such as dalits, who do not have the resources or contacts required to protect themselves.
Several human rights defenders urge the Indian government to carry out fundamental reforms to put an end to the abuses of the police, claiming in passing the protests that followed the death of George Floyd in the States -United.
“We also need a popular movement here which will bring about the necessary legislative changes”, wrote Friday in the newspaper The Hindu a retired magistrate, Ajit Prakash Shah.
The “horrible” deaths of P. Jeyaraj and his son remind us that torture “is an integral part of police culture across the country”, he noted, stressing that the methods denounced are similar to those used against the Indian population in colonial times.