New Delhi: While responding to allegations of police brutality and vehicle damage, state police officials told the Telangana High Court Wednesday that lathis were used on vehicles to check whether “coronavirus was present” in them.
The submission was made in response to a PIL filed by city-based social worker Sheela Sarah Mathews last month, which accused the police of “assaulting the members of the common public by chasing, charging lathis, abusing and manhandling them amid the present COVID -19 lockdown”. The Hyderabad Police was also accused of damaging vehicles in residential areas in the petition.
“This explanation by the Police is, indeed, surprising. For, in order to check the presence of coronavirus, there is no need ‘to use the lathies’,” the bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy said, asking the authorities to submit a complete report on the incident.
Relying on documents and videos from the social media, the petition submitted, “This action of brutality by the Police personnel is not only arbitrary but also illegal, void and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.”
It has sought initiation of a detailed inquiry into the incidents and necessary action against the officials. It also called for exemplary costs to be paid to the victims.
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‘Why do all victims belong to the same community?’: Telangana HC
Advocate Deepak Misra, appearing for Mathews, told ThePrint that during the hearing Wednesday, the court also enquired why the victims of these police atrocities belonged to the same community.
The court also took note of an affidavit filed by the Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar, submitting that a departmental inquiry has been initiated against officers, seeking an explanation from them.
The affidavit, however, denied two instances of the police beating up Muslim men, submitting that they were actually running away from the officers and in the process, injured themselves. However, the court noted, the injury report had not been filed with the affidavit.
In another case, the petition had alleged that the police had assaulted a handicapped person. However, in its affidavit, the police claimed that he was a regular violator of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and as many as 13 traffic challans were issued against him.
The court, however, noted that in this case as well, the challans had not been submitted by the police.
In yet another incident, the court noted that while the police claimed that it had accidentally hit someone named Junaid with a lathi, the latter had to get 35 stitches and suffered a hairline fracture.
Noting that a single injury couldn’t have caused it, the court opined that “correct facts have not been mentioned” in the affidavit.
The police were therefore asked to submit the injury reports of all those injured, their statements and to inform the court about any progress made on the departmental inquiries initiated against the officers.
This report is to be submitted on or before 29 June and the case will next be heard on 30 June.
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