[Naxal Revolution] HC dismisses Naxal's torture plea

"Strange how blind people are! They are horrified by the torture chambers of the Middle Ages, but their arsenals fill them with pride!"

-- Bertha Von Suttner



NAGPUR: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Tuesday dismissed dreaded outlaw Arun Ferreira's alias Sanjay Choudhary's petition alleging mental and physical torture by the police of four states - Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Earlier too, a division bench comprising justices D D Sinha and Bhushan Dharmadhikari dismissed dreaded naxal Murli alias Ashok Satyam Reddy's similar plea. Both petitions were dismissed on ground of lack of evidence from the side of petitioners. Murli and Ferreira were arrested by the Nagpur police along with two others - Dhananjay alias Dhannu Burle and Naresh Bansod - at Deekshabhoomi on May 8. In his petition, Ferreira said that during his stay at Amgaon lock-up, he was severely beaten up by the police along with intelligence bureau officials. He alleged that he was threatened by the police personnel that if his wife Jennifer, who is believed to be a Maoist sympathiser, would be arrested if she comes to Nagpur and his counsel Surendra Gadling would be implicated for defending naxals.

Murli had alleged that 30ml petrol was pumped into his rectum using a syringe while he was in custody at the Amgaon police station. As a result, he was under severe pain and bled while attending nature's call. To add to woes, the cops had not allowed him to sleep for six days on the trot under pretext of interrogation, Murli had claimed. However, all his claims fell flat when his endoscopy and colonoscopy test results revealed that he was suffering from piles and no apparent signs of torture as claimed by him were found in the test.

The policemen came under a barrage of allegations from the two outlaws. The accused duo claimed that they were threatened by the police that they will be subjected to slow poisoning with the help of some unknown chemical. Ferreira, who, according to the police worked as sales agent for a leading pharmaceutical company, claimed that he was being threatened by the Chhattisgarh police of making him 'infertile' by placing ice cubes in his under garments. The outlaws also complained of lack of medical aid from the doctors.

Advocate Anand Deshpande appeared for the state government.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Posted By Avik to Naxal Revolution at 8/22/2007 08:15:00 AM