HC seeks DGP’s personal replyin torture of ex-army jawan

Prayagraj: Hearing a plea filed by an ex-soldier of the Indian army alleging humiliation and brutal torture by the Uttar Pradesh Police, the Allahabad high court, after taking into account the injury reports and FIR filed by him, on Thursday observed that “prima facie, it shows a very sorry state of affairs, police atrocities and a breach of fundamental rights of the petitioner by the accused police officials.”
Emphasizing that the matter is serious and requires serious consideration of the court, a division bench comprising Justice Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Justice Gautam Chowdhary directed the UP DGP to file a counter-affidavit (reply) by means of his personal affidavit, indicating the action taken in the matter.
Hearing a writ petition filed by Resham Singh, an ex-soldier of the Indian army and the victim, the court requested the advocate general of UP to assist this court in the matter and fixed the matter for hearing as a fresh case on July 12 for further hearing.
A video of the said incident had gone viral on social media.
On May 2, Resham Singh, along with his mother and two sisters was going from Pilibhit to Lakhimpur Kheri when they were stopped by the police officials at around 9 am. The police then asked for the papers of the car in which they were travelling.
Allegedly, since it was taking some time to sort out the papers, the police officials abused the victim and his mother and two sisters. The victim asked the police officials to not abuse them and also informed that he was a retired member of the armed forces.
This infuriated the police who threatened the victim and his family members that they will teach them a lesson for life. They then started abusing and beating the victim with lathis. Allegedly, the police officials also beat his mother and sisters and took them to the police station without taking the assistance of any woman police officer.
At the police station, the victim was disrobed and tied on a cot and brutally beaten up by the said police officials for two continuous hours. They also gave him third degree torture only to satisfy their ego, the petitioner alleged.
Thereafter, he lodged an FIR against the erring officials and took treatment in the army hospital.