TURA, Oct 5: Highhandedness and violation of law by khaki wearing cops is not something new, and West Garo Hills police personnel have joined such ranks after its personnel have been accused of locking up an elderly man and his two sons and assaulting them over a case of land dispute in the Phulbari region of the district.
Fearing for their lives over more such attacks, the victims decided to file their complaint before the West Garo Hills superintendent of Police on 3rd October.
In their FIR addressed to the SP, the victims narrate that the incident occurred on the 23rd of September when a police team that included a village defense party secretary came to their home in Nayagaon village of Bhaitbari.
They seized the power tiller of their father Md Soyod Zamal claiming that it was used to till a plot of agricultural land which was disputed.
The power tiller was taken away by the police team and the family members were directed to report to Phulbari police station by evening.
When the father Zamal and his two sons arrived at the station in the evening they were met with the officer in charge Yadav who abused them with foul language and questioned them on whose authority they had cultivated the land.
“My father showed all the documents of the land which was in his name and said there is no dispute. Even the patta of the land measuring 1 bigha 4 katha and 1 Lesha is in my father’s name, but officer Yadav refused to listen and used abusive words on us,” narrates Md Intadul Islam.
As per their complaint, the three of them were sent for medical check up to the hospital and once they returned they were subjected to physical assault by the OC and his men and eventually pushed into the lock up cell of the station for over an hour.
“My father is a heart patient and only recently returned from treatment in Assam’s Goalpara district,” says the sons.
The father and sons were ultimately released after their statements were taken down by the police.
The police action of detention and assault inside a station smacks of a clear case of illegal custodial torture and has put the force in an embrassing situation.
It is alleged that some within the West Garo Hills police, particularly in the plain belt, are notorious for taking sides with individuals and groups on disputes for monetary benefits.
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