Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), Jun 23 (IANS): A 41-year-old retired army man, Resham Singh, who was allegedly thrashed, taken to a police station in Pilibhit and tortured for hours on May 3, has now launched an indefinite dharna along with the army veterans at Damodar Park in Bareilly.
Singh, who served in the Army for 18 years, has alleged that the Pilibhit police carried out a shoddy investigation in his case and did not take appropriate action against the accused policemen who allegedly tortured him and inserted an oil-stained baton in his rectum.
Earlier, they thrashed his family members after stopping his car on the road.
Singh told reporters, "Police did not add more sections despite the Army hospital's medical report confirming the assault. We had informed the IG about our protest but he also did not take any action."
The FIR against the policemen concerned took five days to register after purported videos of the incident were circulated on social media.
Eventually, eight cops -- six constables and two Sub Inspectors (SI) -- were booked for voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful confinement, rioting and intentional insult.
The two SIs were suspended by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) after initial investigation and a probe was ordered against circle officer Puranpur, Lallan Singh, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place.
A group of Army veterans led by Satish Chandra Mishra gave a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister and the Additional DGP, Bareilly zone, Avinash Chandra, demanding action against the policemen and dropping of the charges against Resham Singh.
His counsel Sunita Gangwar told reporters, "The protest will continue until justice is served."
Additional DGP Avinash Chandra said, "The representatives of Resham Singh met me and sought a magisterial enquiry in this case. I told them that the same can be ordered by the district magistrate or the commissioner and I can transfer their investigation to the police of any district of the zone. They also wanted to quash the FIR registered against Singh and five others but it is not possible until the investigation finds them innocent. I have assured them that the investigation in both cases will be transparent."
Chandra added, "We can include the medical report in the investigation after verifying the report from the hospital and recording the statement of the doctor."