A 21-year-old youth was allegedly tortured and badly beaten up in police lock-up in Munger district for eloping with a girl of a different caste, whom he subsequently married.

Shyam Kumar, a resident of Bajrangwali Nagar locality under the jurisdiction of Naya Ramnagar police station in Munger district, has been admitted to the emergency ward of Sadar hospital for treatment. Shyam's sister Poonam Devi said her brother surrendered before the police on Tuesday after the arrest of their father Rajo Sao in the case a few days ago. "Shyam was lodged in police lock-up and beaten up till he fainted," she alleged.

Her brother's cries for help fell on deaf ears as the police were allegedly pressurised to torture him by relatives of the teenaged girl, who belonged to a different case. "The police didn't listen to his plea that he had already married the girl," Poonam said.

The police admitted him to hospital after his condition deteriorated. "According to doctors attending to Shyam, he has received injuries in his abdomen and some other vital body parts," the sister told The Telegraph.

Though this journalist tried to contact the minor girl while she was being presented in court to get her statement recorded, security personnel did not allow her to speak.

In hospital the youth alleged that he was a victim of police brutality.

Munger superintendent of police (SP) Aashish Bharti, however, denied the charge that the youth was tortured in police custody. "He was an accused in a case related to kidnapping of a minor girl. The girl's father had lodged an FIR against him," the SP told The Telegraph.

A social activist, Ravindra Mandal, demanded action against the cops. "The youth was badly beaten up in police lock-up at the behest of the girl's family. Nobody should be allowed to take the law in their hand," he said.

Mandal said the family would move the state human rights commission, seeking its intervention in the torture case.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RAMASHANKAR IN PATNA