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On a plea seeking directions for registration of a First Information Report (FIR) pertaining to an alleged police brutality matter, the Allahabad High Court last week directed the Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh to file an affidavit.

The matter was heard before the bench of Justice Anjani Kumar Mishra and Justice Deepak Verma. The petitioners, a husband-wife and their two daughters, had alleged that in the year 2020, they had been illegally detained, brutally beaten, and were given electric shocks under the directions of Circle Officer (CO), Station House Officer (SHO), and Constable of Kairana Police Station of Shamli, Uttar Pradesh.

Through their petition, the petitioners have also sought a court-monitored investigation into the matter by an independent agency, such as a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or any other police team of a state other than Uttar Pradesh.

Matter in brief

A case was registered in police station Kairana, Shamli against one unknown person for committing murder of two women on May 20, 2020.  According to the petitioners, on June 7, around 10-15 police personnel of the same police station led by the SHO had forcefully entered into petitioners’ residence and had dragged one of the daughters outside the house to arrest her along with her father. 

Allegedly, when the mother had objected to such arbitrary arrests, the police personnel had verbally abused her using sexually colored remarks. After some struggle, the mother was told that her husband and daughter were being taken to PS Kairana for inquiry related to a murder case.

However, allegedly, upon reaching the police station, the police personnel had brutally beaten the father in fornt of his daughter in order to force her to give false informations. Despite girl's constant crying requests that she did not any demanded information, the SHO had abused and pushed her which had caused her a head injury.

Later on, in the night time, it is alleged that the girl was also beaten, her head was smashed against the wall and she was threatened of rape and false charges if she fails to give statement that her maternal uncle Majid had committed the murder of two women.

Allegedly, the girl was suffering from some brain ailment for which she was taking treatment too. However, allegedly, she was beaten to the such extent that her head started bleeding and she lost senses. 

The petitioners have also alleged that it is only when health of the girl started declining severely, she and her father were released. However, few days later, allegedly the father was again arrested and was given electric shocks. As per the petitioners, this torture continued for many days. 

Thereafter, the petitioners, a month later had somehow managed to finally complained about the horrendous torture meted out to them to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Commission of Women (NCW), Home Minister of India, Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh, Additional Director General of Police, Meerut Zone(ADG) and Commissioner of Police, Saharanpur but to no avail as of now.

Against this backdrop, the petitioners had moved the high court with their criminal writ petition seeking relief. Syed Farman Ahmad Naqvi, Sr. Advocate, and advocate Zaheer Asghar had appeared for the petitioners.

Case Title: Rashida and 3 Others v. State of U.P. and 5 Others