Beating and torturing the under trials for the recuperation of truth which is called the confession in police terms is the general routine carried out by the police. It is allowed by the conditions in law but provided it is done under the set guidelines and keeping the humanity factor in mind. The recent case of battering of 20 under trials at Colvale jail by the jail authority in a very inhuman manner, as reported by the jail inmates in front of the judge, has brought in limelight the new face of the law enforcement system working in the state. According to the news published by the TOI, almost 20 under trials out of which majority of them are foreigners have been beaten mercilessly by the jail authorities of Colvale jail in the prison on Sunday.
The victims have filed the appeal before the court claiming that the assault was life threatening and it left a Nigerian with a broken leg, an Israeli is suffering the partial blindness and a German cancer patient was forced to drink the toilet water. According to the sources, the ‘serious mayhem’ came into the light when 10 under trials facing the charges under NDPS Act (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) were produced before the NDPS court in Mapusa on Monday.
The undertrials have brought to the notice of presiding judge that they had been assaulted by jail authorities ruthlessly causing them grievous injuries and prayed in front of the judge to not send them back to the Colvale jail. The Colvale state of an art jail has been flaunted as the ‘correctional home’ by the senior politicians and jail authorities but looking at the present situation the picture appears to be disparate.
The pleading application on the behalf of the victims has been filed by advocate Raju Povlekar, who is apparently representing some of them in their NDPS cases. According to the sources the application states that, the Nigerian, Victor Ubanozie was beaten up in the jail to the extent of breaking his one leg, the another convict from Israel cannot see from one eye, German, Hans Nicole who is also a cancer patient, was asked to drink toilet water and Portuguese national, Ivan Minguel was assaulted on his private parts. Besides these, there are some more undertrials who have been beaten by the jail authorities are Israeli national, Paz Abranavel and Nigerians, Meenash Session, Togo and Monday Felix Holiday.
Povlekar also went claiming that the undertrials were taken one at a time and assaulted brutally by the authorities in the jail and “same have been intimated to their respective embassies,” he added. The sources have confirmed that the NDPS judge Desmond D’costa had took the cognizance of the matter and directed the under trials for the medical examination and referred them back to the Sada sub Jail and Mapusa lock-up from where 120 undertrials had been shifted on Saturday to Colvale Jail. The NDPS judge also directed the session’s judge and human rights commission to look into the matter.
Here the matter of beating is not the only issue as police has their own ways to interrogate the criminals but beating someone ruthlessly which can amount into breaking off their bones and nearing to blindness is a serious matter and need to be looked into. What do you think about this? Do you think that the behavior of jail authorities was justifiable? Or there is something fishy? Please do leave your valuable comments and suggestions on this serious issue.
Source: TOI
Edited by Goa Prism News Desk
