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INDIA: Illegal arrest and torture of 13 year old boy at Magrahat Police Station, West Bengal

December 10, 2003

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

10 December 2003
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UA-79-2003: INDIA: Illegal arrest and torture of 13 year old boy at Magrahat Police Station, West Bengal

INDIA: Ill treatment of children; Torture in police custody
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The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is extremely concerned by the torture and illegal arrest of a child in West Bengal, India. On 16 October 2003, officers from the Magrahat Police Station, South 24 Parganas District arbitrarily arrested Salauddin Sk. at his house and tortured him brutally from 16 October to 19 October 2003.

AHRC condemns such brutal torture and ill treatment of children and urges the Government of India to immediately prosecute the responsible officers. The Indian government should also ratify the Convention against Torture (CAT) to ensure that these incidents do not reoccur.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of victim: Salauddin Sk., son of Sabur Ali Sk., 13-years-old
Perpetrators: Some officers attached to the Magrahat Police Station, South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal, India
Period of illegal arrest, detention and torture: from 16 October to 19 October 2003

Case details:

Salauddin is a student of class 8 of Mohanpur High Madrasa. On 16 October 2003 when he was reading his books at home, a police party came, searching for his older brother, Noor Nabi, who is a carpenter by profession. At that time Noor was not at home. The police party then arrested Salauddin instead, abusing him with filthy language and took him in the police jeep to the station.

In the Magrahat Police Lock-up, Salauddin was stripped. Then policemen tied a brick with one end of a rope, while tying the other end of to his penis and testicles jointly. Salauddin was also beaten with sticks, fists and blows. Because of this torture, at present Salauddin cannot urinate easily. He is suffering from continuous pain in his penis and lower abdomen.

Even though Salauddin is a child, the police did not follow the guidelines of the "Juvenile Justice Act 1986." Section 41 of the Act states: "Punishment for cruelty to juveniles- (1) Whoever, having the actual charge of, or control over a juvenile, assaults, abandons, exposes or willfully neglects the juvenile or causes or procures him to be assaulted, abandoned, exposed or neglected in a manner likely to cause such juvenile unnecessary mental or physical suffering shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both."

The police also purposefully did not comply with the mandatory provisions of arrest, as laid down by the Supreme Court in the D.K. Basu case. The police did not issue a Memo of Arrest on the spot. According to article 21 of the Indian Constitution, "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law." Also, the Article 22(2) of the Indian Constitution states, "Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of 24 hours of such arrest, excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the magistrate and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate." Hence, Salauddin was unconstitutionally detained in police lock-up for more than 4 days and mercilessly tortured.

On 20 October 2003 Salauddin was forwarded to court with a fictitious case where he got bail. Mr. Tamal Das, Officer-in-Charge of Magrahat Police Station, said that he knows nothing of this incident, and has said he would make an enquiry. However, there has been no serious action taken by the police on this case yet.

According to Mr. Sabur Ali, father of the victim, he was an activist of the former ruling party, the Communist Party of India. He left the party and joined the Congress Party along with others. In the last Panchyat election in their village, the Congress candidate won, defeating the Communist candidate. Since then, the police harassment has started. The police also arrested Mr. Sabur Ali on 19 October 2003. In addition, Parizan Bibi, mother of Salauddin and wife of Mr. Sabur Ali, complained of sexual harassment and the use of filthy, abusive language to her by the raiding police party.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the local authorities expressing your concern of this serious case.

1. Dr. P.P.J. Abdul Kalam
President
Office of the President,
Rashtrapati Bhawan,
New Delhi, 110004
INDIA
Tel: +91 11 3016767 (Joint Secretary), 3014507 (Personal Secretary)
Fax: +91 11 3017290, 3014570
Email: presssecy@alpha.nic.in or Pressecy@Sansad.nic.in

2. Shri Justice A S Anand
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of India
Sardar Patel Bhawan
Sansad Marg, New Delhi - 110 001
INDIA
Tel: +91 11 2334 0891 / 2334 7065
Fax: +91 11 2334 0016
E-Mail: chairnhrc@nic.in

3. Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
Chief Minister
Government of West Bengal
Fax: +91 33 22145480
Email: cm@wb.gov.in

4. Ministry of Home Affairs
North Block, Central Secretariat
New Delhi - 110 001
Tel: +91 23092011, 23092161
Fax: +91 23093750, 23092763
E-mail: websitemhaweb@mha.nic.in

5. Shri Justice Mukul Gopal Mukherji
Chairperson
West Bengal Human Rights Commission
Bhabani bhavan, Alipore,
Calcutta-700027
Tel: +91 33 4797259 / 5558866
Fax: +91 33 4799633

6. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917-9016
E-mail: secrt.hchr@unog.ch


Sample letter:

Dear

Re: Illegal arrest and torture of 13/14 year old boy at Magrahat Police Station

Name of the victim: Salauddin Sk., son of Sabur Ali Sk., 13, a student in class 8 of Mohanpur High Madrasa.
Perpetrators: Some officers attached to the Magrahat Police Station, South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal, India
Period of illegal arrest, detention and torture: from 16 October to 19 October 2003

I am shocked to hear about the illegal arrest and brutal torture of 13 year old boy Salauddin Sk.

According to the information I have received, on 16 October 2003 Salauddin was arrested by a police party came from the Magrahat Police Station, instead of his older brother Noor Nabi, even though he did not commit any crime. Salauddin was illegally detained and tortured in the Magrahat Police Station lock-up from 16 October 19 October 2003. On 20 October 2003, the police produced Salauddin in court with a fictitious case where he got bail.

The manner in which the police arrested and tortured Salauddin reflects the nature of police action in India. In the Magrahat Police lock-up Salauddin was stripped. Then policemen tied a brick with one end of a rope, while tying the other end of to his penis and testicles jointly. Salauddin was also beaten with sticks, fists and blows. At present Salauddin cannot urinate easily. He is suffering from continuous pain in his penis and lower abdomen. Furthermore, the Officer-In-Charge of the Magrahat police station claims to have no information about this case. No serious action has yet taken by the police to investigate this case.

Therefore, I strongly urge you to take immediate action to prosecute the responsible officers. I also urge you to withdraw the false charge on the victim. I further urge the responsible authorities to provide compensation to the victim. Lastly, I request the Government of India to declare the torture as a crime and to ratify the Convention against Torture (CAT) as soon as possible to ensure that these incidents do not reoccur. For how long do the innocent people have to further suffer from torture and ill treatment in India? The Government of India must take speedy and strong actions to eliminate the widely spread custom of torture at police stations in India immediately.

Sincerely yours



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Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-79-2003
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.