NHRC notice to DGP, Chhattisgarh, over stripping of 2 women at police station

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that a 60 year old woman and her 27 year old daughter, arrested on the charges of theft, were stripped naked and severely beaten by a woman police personnel in front of male police officials at City Kotwali Police Station, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh on October 14, 2018. Being a patient of hypertension, the mother requested for medical treatment but was not heard. The injuries were inflicted even on their vital body parts.

The NHRC has issued a notice to the Director General of Police, Chhattisgarh, calling for report in the matter within four weeks along with action taken against the guilty police personnel.

While issuing the notice, the Commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, raise serious issue of violation of human rights of the victims. Once a person is taken into custody, it becomes the duty of the police authorities to ensure his/her safety but in this case, the police personnel themselves appear to have behaved in a cruel and inhuman manner and subjected the victims to physical torture, which is an inhuman and barbaric act, it said, according to an NHRC release.

According to the media report, carried on October 17, 2018, the matter came to light when both the victims were produced before the Court where they narrated traumatic tale of police brutality. The Court has, reportedly, ordered an inquiry into the matter by a gazetted officer and the report has been sought by October 26, 2018. The Court has also mentioned about injuries of the victims and that they were unable to walk.