Mechanism must to prevent custodial deaths: HC

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vvvThe State Government on Friday informed the Bombay High Court that nine cops of Wadala GRP (Government Railway Police) including a senior police inspector were booked for their alleged complicity in the custodial death of a youth and sexual abuse of three others held in a robbery case.

The court was also informed that these policemen had been transferred to places outside Mumbai and Detection of Crime Branch was conducting a probe. A division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade was hearing a petition filed by father of the deceased Agnelo Valdaris and three other victims Sufiyan Mohammed Khan, Mohammed Irfan Hajan and Arbaz Shamim Khan, who were also arrested in this case along with Agnelo and allegedly sexually abused.

Government pleader on Friday however told the court that the deceased had not died in police custody but had ran away and was run over by a train while crossing the tracks on April 18.

Meanwhile, the court expressed its displeasure over the method of the interrogation of the police and said a mechanism should be evolved to ensure that police do not use “excessive steps or force” during interrogation.

“While the police were within their rights to interrogate the accused, a mechanism should be evolved to ensure that they do not use excessive steps or force so as to result in a custodial death,” the court said.

The court also observed that why would a boy try to escape unless he was in deep pain. The state will submit the progress report of the probe on June 17.

The four boys were picked up by Wadala Railway police from their residence on April 15, 2014 and taken to the police station where they were allegedly beaten up and asked where they had kept a gold chain and a ring suspected to be stolen by them. The Wadala police claimed that Agnelo was killed after being run over by a train while attempting to flee from custody.

Counsel for the petitioners, Yug Choudhary, denied the allegations that the boys had committed theft and said police was responsible for the custodial death of Agnelo and sexual abuse of three others.

(Source: PTI)

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