The minors were allegedly illegally detained for five days and assaulted after being paraded in public (AI-generated image used for representational purpose)
MUMBAI: The state human rights commission, MSHRC, has directed the DGP to register an FIR against over 15 Pune police officers, ranging from the commissioner to a constable, for allegedly illegally detaining eight minors in a murder case for five days and assaulting them in public. A senior Pune police officer declined to comment, stating he had not seen the order, reports Vijay V Singh. MSHRC has also recommended invoking provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the officers concerned, as four of the minors belonged to the SC/ST communities. The directive follows a report from an MSHRC fact-finding team, which included a special IGP. The committee recorded the statements of the affected parties, examined the spot, CCTV footage and the police case diary to conclude that human rights violations were committed.
The minors, some of whom surrendered before the police in a murder case, were allegedly kept in illegal custody in a police station for five days and subjected to assault after being paraded in public. When one of their family members challenged the detention, the minors were produced before the juvenile justice board. Earlier, MSHRC had formed a fact-finding team consisting of Datta Karale (special inspector general of police), Vijay Kedar (registrar) and Viswas Pandhare (SP) posted at MSHRC to look into the incident.
MSHRC Calls for Expedited Investigation
The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) has directed that both sections of the fact-finding inquiry report, along with its annexures, be treated as a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 173 of the BNSS, 2023. This directive was issued by MSHRC chairperson Justice (retd) A M Badar, alongside Justice (retd) Swapna Joshi and IPS (retd) Sanjay Kumar. They emphasized the need for a swift and thorough investigation to follow this classification of the report.