PURI: Even before the heat over alleged custodial deaths at Puri and Birmitrapur in Sundargarh district could cool, a fresh instance of custodial torture has come to the fore in Pipili. Five youths who were allegedly tortured in Pipili police station have been admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack after sustaining serious injuries.
Pipili Police had detained six persons Haffiz Khan (25), Jagannath Puspalak(19), Dharanidhar Behera(24), Md.Toufic (18), Raju Behera (18) and Pratap Behera (23) in connection with the attack on a police informer on November 13. Parents of the accused alleged that their wards were brutally tortured for days in custody and forwarded to court when their health condition deteriorated.
During the youths’ detention, the family members were not allowed to meet them. When the court rejected their bail plea and remanded them in judicial custody, the jailer of Nimapara sub-jail refused to take them in stating they were critically ill. Police then took them to Nimapara hospital from where they were referred to SCB. Only Pratap has not been hospitalised.
Swinging into action following the revelations, DG P Abhay directed DIG (Central Range) to investigate the incident. “Allegations have been published in some print and electronic media about assault on some persons forwarded to jail on November 19 by Pipili police Station.
"An enquiry by DIG of police, Central Range, Cuttack has been ordered into the allegations”, a press statement released by Odisha police said on Saturday. Meanwhile, families of five youths, who were allegedly tortured, sat on a dharna demanding stringent action against the police personnel involved in the incident.
They questioned why the five were kept at the police station from November 13 to 19 before being produced in the court on November 20. The protesting parents were joined by Congress workers. The Mahila Congress State secretary Nirupama Patra condemned the police excess and demanded action against the culprits. BJP district president Arsit Patnaik too demanded a thorough probe into the matter.