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Medical exam shows fractures, nails pulled out as Nodeep colleague Shiv says cops tortured him

Labour rights activist Shiv Kumar has alleged he was picked up by police & tortured for 7 days before his official arrest on 23 January.

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Chandigarh: Shiv Kumar, president of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS) who was arrested by the Haryana Police within days of his colleague in the labour rights union, Nodeep Kaur, has multiple fractures in his hands and legs, and injuries caused by a blunt object or weapon.

A medical examination conducted by the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, has revealed that the 24-year-old labour activist received grievous injuries two weeks ago. He has alleged that the injuries were caused by the Sonepat police personnel who picked him up eight days before he was officially placed under arrest on 23 January.

The exam was conducted by a board of doctors at GMCH-32, at the behest of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and its report, dated 22 February, was submitted to the court Wednesday.

Kumar, who has partial visual impairment, was arrested on extortion and attempt to murder charges on the complaint of factory owners at the Kundli Industrial Area, 11 days after Nodeep Kaur was arrested on similar charges.

ThePrint made multiple attempts to contact Sonepat Senior Superintendent of Police Jashandeep Singh Randhawa through calls and text messages for a comment, but there was no response until the time of publishing this report. Haryana Director General of Police Manoj Yadav didn’t respond to calls either.


Also read: How Nodeep Kaur rose from an activist Left, Dalit Punjab family to a cause herself in jail


What the medical report says

According to his medical report, a copy of which was accessed by ThePrint, Shiv Kumar’s physical examination revealed that he has several patches of discoloured black skin on his legs and thighs, and swelling on both his feet. The nail beds of his fingers were missing and healing, and there were injuries on the toes as well.

An X-ray examination revealed that Shiv Kumar’s left hand and right foot are fractured, and there are also possible fractures in his right wrist and left foot as well.

The doctors noted that all the injuries are at least two weeks old and caused by a blunt object or weapon, and while some injuries are “simple in nature”, others are “grievous”.

Shiv Kumar’s father Rajbir had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 19 February, alleging that his son was kept in illegal detention by the Haryana Police and severely beaten up. He had alleged that Kumar was picked up by the police on 16 January from the site of the kisan andolan (farmers’ protest) in Kundli and kept in illegal detention till 23 January, when he was shown as arrested. He was remanded in 10 days’ police custody and sent to Sonepat jail on 2 February.

“Kumar was allowed access to an advocate for the first time on 22 February after his father moved the high court. It is clear from the report that he was tortured in custody,” said Arshdeep Singh Cheema, the advocate representing them in the high court.

On Rajbir’s plea, Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill had ordered the Sonepat district jail superintendent to immediately get Kumar’s medical examination done from GMCH-32, while allowing him access to an advocate.

The medical report was taken on record Wednesday when the case came up for hearing again.


Also read: Why Nodeep Kaur, Dalit labour activist part of farmer protest, is behind bars for a month now


Shiv Kumar’s allegations

Apart from the details of the medical examination, Shiv Kumar’s statement giving details of his allegations are also noted in the report.

He has alleged that an altercation took place with the police on 12 January when the MAS was holding a dharna outside a factory in Sonepat, but that he was not present there at the time. He has claimed he was picked up by the Crime Investigation Agency of the Haryana Police in the afternoon of 16 January, when he was at the farmers’ protest site near Kundli.

Kumar alleged that seven men took him to the old kacheri (local court) in Sonepat, where they assaulted him, tied both his feet, laid him on the ground, and hit him on the soles. His second, third and fifth toe nails of the right foot were pulled, and the nail of the big toe on the left foot went blue. “They also hit him on the buttocks with flat sticks, then tied his hands and stretched his legs. He was made to lie on the ground with both legs straight and a metal pipe was placed on his thigh and rolled over the thigh by two people. They also hit him on both hands and palms and also on the back of his head,” the medical report cites Kumar as alleging.

“He was not allowed to sleep for 3 days, the CI staff took his statement and asked him to give names, and when he could not do so, they tied him to a chair and poured water on his head,” the report adds.

Kumar claims that he was presented before a court on 23 January, and while he was in police remand for 10 days, he was “mentally and physically abused” and hot water was poured on his feet. “Any blisters that formed were burst by them,” the report alleges.

Demand for probe into ‘illegal detention & torture’

Advocate Cheema told ThePrint said Shiv Kumar’s father Rajbir, in his petition, has also sought the transfer of the investigation into the three FIRs registered against the activist to the CBI, as well as an independent inquiry into illegal detention and torture. The case will next come up for hearing on 16 March.

Shiv Kumar has been in jail since 2 February, but is yet to apply for bail.

Nodeep Kaur, who is also an accused in the three FIRs, has been granted bail in two cases, but continues to be in jail for the third. She moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for bail in the third case on 22 February after it was rejected by a lower court. The case came up for hearing in the high court Wednesday but it posted her bail application for 26 February, directing the Haryana government to place her medical reports on record.

Cheema, who is also representing Nodeep, said she was medically examined on 25 January at the Sonepat Civil Hospital, following an application moved by her in the lower court. In her bail plea, she too has alleged custodial torture by the Sonepat police while she was in their custody, and that she was made to sign on “blank papers”.

(This report has been updated to correct the official date of Shiv Kumar’s arrest to 23 January, instead of 24 January. The error is regretted)


Also read: Radical group ‘Sikhs For Justice’ speaks up for Disha, Nikita, Deep Sidhu & Nodeep on YouTube


 

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1 COMMENT

  1. India is one of the few countries that has refused to ratify the UN Convention against Torture. If this does not sound unduly harsh, not much has changed with the police since the British laid out freedom fighters on sheets of ice in their detention centre in the Red Fort. All those witty tweets the force puts out all over the country, notwithstanding.

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