Necessary action is expected in the coming days against errant police officers, says Shaikh’s counsel
Mumbai : The Home Department has submitted a 220-page report to the State Human Rights Commission on Monday as per the orders of Justice S R Bannurmath, Chairperson, State Human Rights Commission in the third degree treatment and unlawful detention by the police of Chand Babu Sattar Shaikh, a juvenile convict in the Shakti Mills gang rape case.
Shaikh has been convicted in the Shakti mills rape case. A Special Investigation Team was formed in September 2014, to probe the incident.
The report includes 24 statements of police officers who were on duty on the fateful day, medical examination officers and probation officers of the Juvenile Justice Board. These are being used as documentary evidence for age ascertainment and third degree torture given to Chand Babu Sattar Shaikh.
Speaking to the Free Press Journal, advocate Beena Tendulkar who represents Shaikh said, “I was shocked to see that the statement by on-duty police officers can be a documentary evidence for age ascertainment.
No ossification tests were conducted to ascertain the age. The birth certificate and the medical evidence which acts as evidence as per the criminal manual was tampered with. Shaikh’s age was shown as 19 years since the errant authorities wanted to avoid seeking permission from the Juvenile Justice Board for medical examination.”
“Necessary action is expected in the coming days against the errant police officers; investigation officer, Bhoiwada Magistrate and Principal Magistrate of the Juvenile Justice Board by the State Human Rights Commission,” added Tendulkar.
Meanwhile, a suo moto petition which was filed by Tendulkar on December 13, last year in this case is pending before the Bombay High Court.
The report states that Shaikh was kept in police custody illegally from August 23 to 29 in 2013. He was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board only on August 30, 2013, which was a violation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. The entire report submitted by the investigating officer Manohar Dhanawade is against the provisions of Child Rights, various conventions on Child Rights and guidelines by the High Court and the Supreme Court.
TOTAL RECALL
A 22-year-old photo-journalist intern with an English magazine had gone to shoot pictures at the desolate Shakti Mills premises on August 22, 2013. She was accompanied by a male colleague whose hands were tied by a rope, while she was raped by five youth. Shaikh worked at a chicken shop. He was booked for theft at Agripada police station in 2011.
Source: http://www.freepressjournal.in
Updated On: Feb 01, 2017