Youth Was Assaulted By Gang
A youth was reportedly assaulted by a gang on the arterial Avinashi Road in full public view and later beaten up by an inspector at a police station here on Monday. Speaking to reporter on Tuesday, victim Prabhu, 28, of Devarayapuram, said: I was walking along the Avinashi Road after distributing some religious literature, when a gang chased and caught me. Soon more people joined the gang and beat me up.
I was beaten up in the presence of traffic policemen and then dragged by the gang to Race Course police station. Later they took me to the Kattoor police station near Gandhipuram bus stand. At the police station, the gang demanded that the inspector register a case against me stating that I attacked them. Though I expected a fair deal from the inspector, he too assaulted me and warned me not to distribute religious literature in future, he said.
Prabhu claimed that the inspector forced him to stay in a room, preventing him contacting anyone outside. The inspector took away my cell phone also, he claimed. He alleged that he was allowed to go on bail after false cases were framed against him. When reporter called Inspector Manivarman of Kattoor police station, who handled the case, he admitted to have slapped Prabhu, but denied causing any injury.
I just slapped him twice in front of the mob. I have also told the lawyer, who came to bail him out that I had slapped him, the inspector said and added that he booked Prabhu under sections 448 and 323 of the IPC. However, Commissioner of Police K C Mahali said: Police cannot beat anybody at the police station. They should be treated with dignity. Advocate Bhavani B Mohan said: What happened at the Kattoor police station is a human rights violation. We will take the legal route to seek justice.
