New Delhi: An inquiry report monitored by the Punjab and Haryana high court to look into allegations of the illegal detention and custodial torture of Dalit and labour rights activist Shiv Kumar has found that the judicial magistrate at the time Vinay Kakran, doctors at the Civil Hospital Sonipat and jail officials failed to perform their duties and connived with the Haryana Police.
Kumar had been arrested for protesting against the Kundli Industrial Association over unpaid wages and harassment of workers. He was also an active supporter of the farmers’ agitation against the three agri-marketing Bills passed unilaterally by the Modi-led government in 2020 (and later revoked after protests).
Earlier this year, a detailed medical report submitted by the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Chandigarh to the Punjab and Haryana high court had also suggested that Kumar was subjected to brutal police torture. But this is the first time that a judicial inquiry has put these findings on the record, with evidence.
On March 16, 2021, the Punjab and Haryana high court had directed the district and sessions judge of Faridabad at the time to hold the above inquiry. A detailed report of the inquiry was released this month and made public on December 20, 2022.
Statements of 15 witnesses were recorded during the judicial inquiry. This includes the investigation officer of the case, judicial magistrate Vinay Kakran, jail medical officers, victim Shiv Kumar, writ petitioner Rajbir Singh (father of Kumar) and acquaintance Nodeep Kaur, a fellow activist working with Kumar. Kaur’s family has also alleged that she was harassed in police custody at the time.
The inquiry, conducted by Gupta and placed before the high court, puts weight behind the independent medical examination done by GMCH and notes that the findings of the report corroborate the statement provided by the witness, and are indeed true. The doctors of the Civil Hospital Sonepat “danced to the tunes of police officials” and failed to perform their duties, the inquiry report notes.
The doctors who examined Kumar at the Civil Hospital in Sonepat and in the district jail are Dr Ashwani Kumar, Dr Naveen Yadav, Dr Sandeep Malik and Dr Kapil Yadav.
In their statement to Deepak Gupta, the doctors said that they found Kumar in normal gait at all times whenever he was examined after January 23. But after the GMCH’s medical examination on February 20, 2020, Kumar was medically examined by Dr Ashwani Kumar at the Sonepat hospital once again. From there, he was referred to General Hospital to Dr Vipin Dalal where his X-ray revealed a fracture in his right foot and another fracture in one finger of his left hand. None of these injuries were found by the medical officers in at least three examinations of the victim between January 24 and February 2, before the GMCH report was released.
Dr Dalal also testified to inquiry officer Gupta that the fractures he found on Kumar’s body were “10 to 30 days old”.
“Meaning thereby, the doctors at Civil Hospital Sonepat did not find any injury to the person of Shiv Kumar on any part of his body during his repeated examinations from 24.01.2021 to 02.02.2021 but when he was again examined on 25.02.2021, after his medical examination had already been conducted at GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh on 20.02.2021, this time they found two fractures on his body just to make the report conformity with the report of GMCH,” the inquiry notes.
The inquiry calls SI Shamsher Singh and inspector Ravinder the “perpetrators of torture inflicted upon Kumar ‘, and notes that they are “solely responsible” for the violence on Kumar in custody.
“SI Shamsher Singh, who was additional SHO of police station Kundli and was the IO of all three cases and who had taken the police remand of Shiv Kumar on the night intervening January 23 and January 24, which was granted till February 2, is directly responsible for the torture meted out to Shiv Kumar,” the inquiry finds.
Apart from the failure of police and medical officers, the inquiry points out the failure of judicial magistrate Vinay Kakran in performing his duties at the time.
According to Kumar, he was not produced before the judicial magistrate but was made to sit outside in the police vehicle. However, the judicial magistrate has put on record he did meet Kumar and Kumar did not complain of any physical harm by the police.
“It appears that either Shiv Kumar was not physically produced before thee magistrate and was made to sit outside in the police vehicle; or if produced, he was not in a position to speak anything to the magistrate due to threats give by the police, as he had already been met with torture right from 16.1.2021 till he was produced before court,” the inquiry notes. “Even Shri Vinay Kakran, who was posted as JMIC Sonepat at relevant time, appears to have not performed his duties as was required.”
There are shocking details of torture in Kumar’s statements to the sessions judge.
According to Kumar, he was harassed using casteist slurs like ‘chamar’ and made to clean toilets while in police remand. Furthermore, Haryana police officers spit at him, asked him to place his hands and feet in boiling water, and directed a high pressure water pipeline at his face.
“…chair was placed above him on which ASI Jai Bhagwan of CIA [Haryana’s Crime Investigation Agency] Staff sat, who caught hold of him by his hair; and two other people of CIA caught hold his one leg each and pulled in opposite direction. Inspector Ravi Kumar and Mandeep stood on his thighs and pressed the same.”
Even when Kumar was bleeding, he was not given assistance, instead he was paraded in the hallway, Kumar’s statement says.
Kumar has also said on the record that from January 28 to January 31, 2021 he was taken to Panipat and Haridwar by SI Shamsher Singh accompanied by two other policemen. At both locations, Kumar was handcuffed and tied to beds in a lodge while the policemen consumed liquor.
This is the first judicial inquiry report in the case that proves the involvement of the magistrate, doctors and inspectors in the custodial torture of Shiv Kumar.
