22 April 2003
Mr. Justice A S Anand
Chairman
National Human Rights Commission of India
Sardar Patel Bhawan
Parliament Street
New Delhi-110001
Subject: Complaint against the
brutal and inhumane torture of Mrs Shatuli Devi of Arasadam
village under Jaridih police station of Bokaro district,
Jharkhand on 6 April 2003 by the West Bengal Police from
Purulia district, as a result of which Ms Shatuli Devi who
was in her last stages of pregnancy had to be operated upon
and lost her child.
Dear Justice Anand,
I am writing to seek intervention
of the National Human Rights Commission against the brutal
and inhumane torture of 22 years Shatuli Devi of Arasadam
village under Jaridih police station of Bokaro district,
Jharkhand on 6 April 2003 by the West Bengal Police from
Purulia district. As a result of the inhuman torture, Ms
Shatuli Devi who is in her last stages of pregnancy had to
be operated upon and lost her child.
Ms Shatuli Devi was sleeping in
her hut at Arasadam village under Jaridih police station of
Bokaro district with her two children the police knocked the
door at around 2 am on 6 April 2003.
The 22-year-old woman initially
refused to answer, but as the banging intensified, she
opened the door.
And her nightmare
began.
A dozen armed policemen, said to
be from Purulia district of West Bengal, barged into Shatuli
Devi’s little home and started beating her with sticks and
the butt of their guns, while demanding information about a
person she claimed she hardly knew. But the policemen, not
satisfied, continued to beat her till she
fainted.
Villagers rushed Shatuli Devi,
who was bleeding profusely, to a local nursing home where
the doctor had to operate on her. She lost the
child.
Bokaro police reportedly claimed
their Purulia counterparts carried out the raid. Purulia
police, on the other hand, say it was a joint
operation.
Police sources said the team from
Purulia had come in search of one Narain Mahto, an accused
in the murder of a landlord, Jagdish Tewary, in Baansgarh
under the Jhalda police station of Purulia
district.
Villagers alleged that the police
team continued with its operation and raided the huts of
Sumitra Devi (wife of Narain Mahto), Lakhu Devi (wife of
Raghu Mahto) and thrashed the children — Diwakar (10),
Prabhakar (9), Laxmi Kumari (12), Sarita (10), Babita (9),
Runi Kumari (12), Suvidha (8) and Shakuntala (14). Three
children were seriously wounded.
I shall be grateful if the NHRC
could kindly intervene against such grotesque torture by the
West Bengal Police by taking the following
measures:
1.
Direct the State Government of Jharkhand to conduct a
full inquiry into the incident including whether it was a
joint operation with West Bengal Police and report to the
NHRC within two weeks;
2.
Direct the State Government of West Bengal to inform
NHRC as to whether a joint operation has been conducted with
prior permission from Jharkhand government and suspend all
the concerned police personnel;
3.
Direct the State government of Jharkhand to register
criminal cases against the concerned West Bengal
Police;
4.
Direct the State Government of Jharkhand and State
Government of West Bengal to pay exemplary compensation of
Rs 10,00,000 (ten lakhs) to Mrs Shatuli Devi who had to
undergo operation at advance state of pregnancy due to the
torture by the police and lost her child and that the same
be recovered from the concerned police personnel;
5.
Direct the State Government of Jharkhand and State
Government of West Bengal to pay compensation Rs 50,000 each
to the children - Diwakar (10), Prabhakar (9), Laxmi Kumari
(12), Sarita (10), Babita (9), Runi Kumari (12), Suvidha (8)
and Shakuntala (14) who were subjected to torture and that
the same be recovered from the concerned police personnel;
and
6.
Take any other measures that the NHRC deems
fit.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely
Amal K
Chakma
Programme
Assistant
