Dalit man tortured by police in UP while trying to file complaint on wife’s kidnapping and rape

A Dalit man who went to lodge a complaint to the Uttar Pradesh police about his wife’s alleged kidnapping and gangrape has said that the police tortured him instead of writing down his complaint.

According to a news report in the Hindustan Times, in-charge of Bichwan police station in Mainpuri district and two constables have been suspended after the inspector general of the Agra range was informed of the allegations.

The 41 year old man and his 38 year old wife were travelling by motorcycle on the Aligarh-Kanpur highway on Friday, July 5, when three unidentified men stopped them, threw chilli powder at them and kidnapped the woman in their car. The husband tried going to the police, but they accused him of foul play.

The man walked 4 km while dragging his bike, which the assailants had smashed. He later managed to call the police control room with the help of a passer-by. When the police officials arrived, they began to question him instead of taking his claims about the kidnapping seriously.

Police Superintendent, Mainpuri, Ajai Shankar Rai, “Policemen assaulted him during questioning. A medical examination shows injuries on his back and legs.”

The three officers claimed that the man may have murdered his wife and was trying to cover it up by reporting an abduction, reported The New Indian Express.

After five hours, the woman reportedly made her way to the police station and said that she had been gangraped by the men who abducted her. Only then did the police take down the complaint. Rai, however, claimed that the medical report did not show signs of sexual assault.

“In any case, the policemen had no right to misbehave with the complainant and as such SO, Bichwan, Rajesh Pal Singh was suspended and shifted to police lines and two constables, Chhatrapati and Krishna Veer, were suspended,” Rai told Hindustan Times.