Court summons two policemen in illegal confinement, torture case

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, April 18

For allegedly torturing a person in the lock-up and forcing him to make a confession, the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Faridkot has summoned two head constables to face trial in a criminal case.

They are also accused of barging into the victim’s house with a motive of kidnapping him.

The incident took place in May 2014 when two head constables posted at the Kotkapura police station had allegedly trespassed in the house of Sunil Kumar, a resident of Prem Nagar in Kotkapura, kidnapped him and wrongfully confined him for extorting money.

They are accused of issuing threats to him.

In its orders, the court of the CJM said it had found prima-facie sufficient grounds against the accused police constables for offences under Sections 452, 365, 348, 323, 506 and 34 of the IPC.

As the police had allegedly not taken any action on the complaint of Sushil Kumar, he filed a criminal complaint against the two constables and the Station House Officer of the Kotkapura police to get justice.

In his complaint filed with the court in July 2014, Sunil had alleged that his mouth was wrapped with a cloth and water was put in his nose due to which he faced problems in breathing. He said efforts were made to kill him in the police lock-up.

The complainant alleged that he was tortured by the police for two days at the Kotkapura and Jaito police stations as the police want to extort money and procure his signature on some papers.

After recording of the preliminary evidence in the case in the past over three years, the court has summoned head constables Jang Singh and Surjit Singh. However, the court did not take any action against the Station House Officer as there was no substantial evidence to prove his involvement in this criminal act.

The court has asked the cops to appear in the court in May 2.