New Delhi: Days after a Dalit man was reportedly tortured by police personnel while attempting to file a complaint about his wife’s abduction, three personnel from the Uttar Pradesh police have been charged with attempt to murder. Station officer, Bichhwa police station Rajesh Pal Singh and constables Krishnaveer and Chhatrapati had earlier been suspended and are absconding.
According to the Indian Express, and FIR has been registered against the three men under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The man and his wife were travelling by motorcycle on the Aligarh-Kanpur highway on Friday night when three unidentified men reportedly stopped them, threw chilli powder at them and abducted the woman in their car. The husband tried going to the police, but they accused him of “foul play”.
“A team from Bichhwan Police Station arrived. When I informed them in detail about the sequence of the incident, they started questioning me instead of searching for my wife. I was forced to repeat the sequence of events several times. The policemen started beating me with sticks,” Indian Express quoted the husband as saying.
“The policemen said that I killed my wife and had concealed her body somewhere. They started asking me to reveal about the place my wife’s body was dumped. I kept requesting them to search for my wife but they did not listen to me.”
The woman found her way to the police station a few hours later and alleged that she had been gangraped by the men who abducted her. They also stole money and jewellery. Only after she arrived did the police agree to take down the couple’s complaint and take the abduction seriously.
While the police claimed the initial medical examination did not show signs of sexual assault, the couple has requested another test.
Superintendent of police (Mainpuri) Ajai Shankar Rai told the Indian Express that the police is looking for the three absconding accused. “We have got some important clues and making efforts to trace the three accused,” he said.