tortured

Bengaluru

But DCP denies allegations, says passersby assaulted them, police only helpedA 25-year-old business correspondent of a magazine and his cousin of the same age who works in the F and B department of a reputed hotel on the Old Airport Road have said that they wereby the Hennur police. They said that they had stepped out to buy medicines and groceries, when they were taken to the Hennur station by the cops and tortured for over 15 hours.The Hennur police have denied this. Samrat Pradhan is from Darjeeling and has been a resident offor almost one year. His cousin, Amit Kar, 25, is from Nagaland and has been working in a reputed hotel for over two years. Amit Kar had an eye infection and the two men had set out to buy medicines on a bike.On Monday at around 7.30 pm, Pradhan and Kar, residents at Byrathi were stopped by a police constable and asked to show their vehicle pass. When the men said that they didn’t have a pass and they didn’t think they needed one to buy essentials, the cop, they say, saw red. When the cousins pointed to the cop that many motorists around them didn’t have passes either, and stopped a motorist to ask her if she had a pass, the constable, they allege, started caning them. A few members of the public also supported the police, said the cousins.“In the entire crowd, we were singled out and asked to show our pass. Some of the locals started calling us ‘coronavirus’. When we pointed out that several people had stepped out without masks, the constable started abusing us in Kannada. I immediately took my mobile phone and started filming the constable who was beating my cousin. Then the constable started beating me for filming him. He and some locals pushed me into an auto and took me to the Hennur police station. When I reached there, I saw that my cousin was already there and he had been beaten up brutally,” said Pradhan.The two cousins said that the policemen allegedly took turns to cane them and asked them to delete the videos.Pradhan said, “I had made my mind not to delete the video. But I was unable to bear the pain and their caning. They kept abusing us in Kannada. Finally they forced me to delete the video and even checked if there was a backup. After the video was deleted, they gave us some food. When we refused to eat, they threatened to beat us again. Then we were put inside the lockup. Later a senior police officer came and asked us about our background. Then we were pushed inside the lockup again. They released us around 11.30 am on Tuesday. We were traumatised and shocked and we walked about five kilometres to reach our home. The police have impounded our bike which they said we could collect after May 3,” added Pradhan.When informed about the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) SD Sharanappa, checked with the Hennur police station and told this correspondent.“The Hennur police claim that nobody has been manhandled inside the police station. The police further claimed that the two were creating nuisance without a pass. They stopped a woman on a two-wheeler and asked if she had a pass.The police asked the woman if she wanted to raise a complaint for being stopped but she refused. Later, a few people who had gathered there started beating the two men and the police brought them to the station. They were kept in the station so that there won’t be any further attacks on them. They were sent back after they were provided medical care for the injuries sustained when they were beaten by the public.”The DCP further added that he would also talk to the cousins to know their version of the story.