Balmiki family demands CBI probe into ‘atrocities’

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jhansa (Kurukshetra), Jan 19

A day after medical examination of four Balmiki youths, including three minors, claimed that they were not subjected to any physical abuse, the aggrieved community members today demanded a CBI inquiry against the police personnel.

Family members of deceased Gulshan Kandara, who was earlier named prime suspect in the alleged rape and murder case, alleged that the district police authorities had detained minors illegally for five days. Appearing before National Commission of Scheduled Castes regional director Raj Kumar Chhanena here today, they charged the police with third-degree methods of torture in name of investigation.

Chhanena assured them that the allegations of police excesses would be investigated and a medical examination by another panel would be held.

Gulshan’s uncle Ramesh Kandara said after the Dalit girl’s body was found from Jind on January 12, the police had treated various family members, relatives and Gulshan’s friends as criminals. Gulshan’s close relative Amit (23) alleged that he was subjected to intense electric shock by police personnel using a hand-held gadget.

“We were summoned to the Jhansa police station for questioning, but were detained at the CIA office in Kurukshetra for five days,” he claimed. “I told the police that I dropped Gulshan, aka Happy, to a shop nearby between 4 pm and 4:15 pm on January 9. The police personnel treated us brutally at the CIA office. They used the electric appliance on our private parts repeatedly,” he said.