A document detailing the alleged torture of a 26-year-old Dalit man in police custody in Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga district has come under sharp focus after it was presented before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.
The document - a remand order recorded by a judicial magistrate based on the victim's statement - has now effectively become a dying declaration, as the man later died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Madurai.
The victim, identified as Aakash, had described in detail the alleged torture he faced in police custody.
According to the statement recorded by the magistrate, Aakash alleged that he was blindfolded and brutally assaulted by police personnel after being taken into custody.
He claimed that officers placed stones below and above his right leg, covered it with a wet gunny bag and repeatedly beat it with an iron rod. The assault, he said, broke his leg and caused severe bleeding.
Aakash further alleged that police threatened him and instructed him to tell doctors at the Manamadurai Government Hospital that he had sustained the injuries after falling from the Melapasalai bridge.
In his statement, he also told the magistrate that around 10 cops in plain clothes first picked him up along with his co-accused, Guna, on the evening of March 6. Later that evening, four uniformed policemen took them away, he said, adding that he was placed in a separate vehicle and blindfolded.
Human rights defender Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director of People's Watch, told NDTV that the document is a crucial piece of evidence.
"This is the first document that establishes police torture in Sivaganga," Mr Tiphagne said, adding that although the case has been transferred to the CB-CID, no police personnel have been arrested or suspended so far.
Aakash, a graduate, had been arrested after a clash with two men a day earlier and was charged for attempt to murder. He had sustained injuries and was initially admitted to the Sivaganga Government Hospital before being shifted to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai, where he died the following morning.
Police officials had earlier said the 26-year-old developed breathing complications while undergoing treatment.
His family, however, has consistently alleged custodial torture. Tiphagne earlier told NDTV that Aakash had informed his parents in the hospital that police had placed his leg between stones and beaten him.
The state had denied allegations of torture and argued he fell from a bridge.
A senior police officer told NDTV that a magisterial inquiry has been ordered and that the law will take its course. On the allegations of torture, the officer said the investigation is underway and declined further comment.
The incident comes less than a year after the custodial death of Ajith Kumar in the same district following alleged police torture that was reportedly caught on camera. The case is currently being probed by the CBI, with five police personnel arrested and ten officers named in the case.
Meanwhile, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has also directed the registration of a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in connection with Aakash's death.
