Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed Murlidhar Sharma, inspector general of police (training), to file a report on the alleged torture of student leaders at a women police station in Midnapore.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh issued the order after SFI’s Sucharita Das and the DSO’s Sushrita Soren, along with a few other students of Midnapore College in West Midnapore district, had moved the high court.
The petitioners accused the police of mercilessly assaulting them inside the lock-up of Midnapore women police station during their detention following a protest to demand the resignation of education minister Bratya Basu for allegedly injuring a student during a recent protest at Jadavpur University.
The lawyers appearing for the students told the court: “The police had picked up a
few students from the (Midnapore) college campus and other places on Monday (March 3) during an agitation by students to protest recent atrocities at Jadavpur University.”
Sucharita’s lawyer also said: “The women students were taken to the women police station at Midnapore. The police released them past midnight without registering any formal case against them. During their detention at the police station, the cops tortured them brutally. They were beaten up by police mercilessly.”
Speaking for the state, advocate-general Kishore Datta argued that the allegations of torture were false.
“To bring back normalcy, very few students were taken to the police station. There, the police treated them very gently. Their lawyers were also present at the police station. The students were served food and allowed to rest. The police did not torture them at all. Everything is recorded in CCTV footage,” the advocate-general said.
Justice Ghosh then said: “Even then, when there is a specific complaint against the police, there should be an inquiry.”
The judge then directed IG Murlidhar Sharma to conduct an inquiry, watch the CCTV footage and file a report before the court.
Leader of the CPM-backed SFI Sucharita and SUCI-affiliated DSO’s Sushrita, along with others, were released early on Tuesday. The two leaders separately went public listing the alleged physical torture perpetrated on them by cops of the women police station in Midnapore town.
In a video message, Sucharita said after supporters of the Trinamool Congress dragged her out of the campus, she was forcibly thrown into a waiting police van, along with other women members of the SFI.
Sucharita accused the police of asking TMC activists to drag them out of the college to be handed over to them. She said that at the police station, the women were physically tortured and abused for “daring to take part in a protest against the state government”.