Date:12/06/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/06/12/stories/2004061214460300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Hospitalised labourer alleges police torture

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JUNE 11. A 22-year-old labourer has been admitted to the Stanley Medical College Hospital here for injuries allegedly inflicted by Red Hills policemen on Tuesday.

M. Kannan, of Manakkal Street in Red Hills, said policemen picked him up for questioning on Tuesday evening. "Nobody had given a written complaint against me. My relative's daughter was missing from her house for a few hours and they (relatives) suspected that I had kidnapped her," Kannan said, from his hospital bed in ward S3.

He was reportedly assaulted and humiliated by the policemen. "The girl who was reported missing turned up and confessed that I had nothing to do with it. But that did not stop them from beating me," Kannan alleged.

He was kicked and beaten on his legs, arms, chest and back. "Even now there is acute pain in my back. The verbal abuse of the policemen was unbearable," he said.

His wife, Tara (20), said she came to the police station on Tuesday pleading that her husband be let off, but in vain.

The couple charged the policemen of using filthy language.

Her husband was deliberately assaulted in her presence, Tara said.

Kannan was released from the station on Wednesday evening. "Just as I began serving dinner for him, he started vomiting blood".

She hired an autorickshaw and took him to the hospital on Wednesday night.

Doctors attending on Kannan said he was being treated for vomiting blood. They said Kannan had told them that the Red Hills police had assaulted him.

A senior officer at the Red Hills police station, however, said he was unaware of anyone being detained overnight in the police station.