Killed,not in line of duty

Attached with the 36th Battalion,Rathwa was posted in West Bengal to fight the Naxal menace. However,he allegedly had to bear the batons and the blows of the policemen from his own village Hamirpura,one-and-a half km from Kwant where he died. Rathwa died on Friday evening,as his fellow villagers testified at Kwant police station,around 140 km from Vadodara.

On Saturday,not just Hamirpura,but Kwant too remained tense as one State Reserve Police (SRP) battalion from Vadodara along with policemen from other talukas was brought,fearing backlash from the villagers. Meanwhile,all the 10 policemen including Sub Inspector R H Chauhan have been taken off duty with the charge given to the Circle Inspector from Chhota Udepur.

“We have not yet suspended them as investigations and the autopsy report are still pending. They are now off duty,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police R P Chaudhary,who was taking the stock of the situation at the Kwant police station.

Testimonies differ though. The police version,the family’s and the villagers’ version about the incident are different.

Rathwa’s daughter Rupal had eloped away and married one Kintu Rathwa. “What wrong would have happened,if she had waited for her father?” asks Ramila.

She said she sent a telegram to Rathwa asking him to come,as she could not have controlled the situation all by herself.

Rupal,against the wishes of her family,married Kintu,while Ramila filed the case in a local court.

“The court,however,let the girl go as she was not a minor,” said Dy SP R P Chaudhary.

On the other hand,Ramila claims that Rupal,even without looking back,went away with her in-laws not caring about her family and her father,who was away. “Finding no other alternative,I sent a telegram to my husband informing him about the incident. He reached here on July 13 and went to the Kwant police station to lodge an FIR but none of the officials paid any heed. He was asked to leave,” said Ramila.

On July 16,Rathwa again approached the police at the Kwant police station.

“Assistant Sub-Inspector Zandu Rathwa was passing by when Rathwa asked if they were considering his case. Abuses from both sides led to a scuffle in which Rathwa allegedly hit the policeman with an axe,” said Chaudhary.

While,Vadodara Rural Police officers still maintain that Rathwa died because of a health complication,Ramila showed his health certificate and narrated how 13 policemen came to take revenge for injuries inflicted on the ASI.

“They chased him on the main road for one kilometre,while some of them came inside our house. I locked the doors from inside and prayed. But from the back window,I could see my husband running towards the fields when the stick of one of the policemen,Arjun Rathwa,hit him on the head and he fell down,” she said.

A local villager and an eyewitness,Karsan Rathwa,thought it was his drunkard son who was being chased by the police.

“But I could not believe when I saw at least 13 of them beating him (Rathwa) up and tossing him in the air like a pillow,” said Karsan.

Ramila said the policemen took Rathwa inside the police station and started beating him. “Our boys from the village wanted to free him. But instead they saw his body inside the custody. They told me that he was not given any kind of medical aid,” she said.

According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed at the Kwant police station on Friday,in the presence of senior police officers and district administration officials,Ramila and other eyewitnesses alleged that Rathwa was murdered by Police Sub-Inspector R H Chauhan and constables Arjun

Rathwa,Mukesh Baria,Ambalal Chauhan,Mayur Rathwa,Arvind Rathwa,Kishansinh,Anand Rathwa,Somesh Shukla and Arvind Puar.

According to the family members,there were three other policemen who could not be identified.

Elsewhere,police officers from the district alleged that a mob of 200 villagers from Hamirpura

ransacked the police station at Kwant.

“We had to fire four teargas shells. The situation is now under control,” added Chaudhary.

BSF man died of damaged liver: postmortem report

VADODARA

A day after the alleged custodial death of a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan in Kwant police station,a team of three doctors at Sir Sayajirao General (SSG) Hospital,on Saturday,submitted the provisional postmortem report. As per the report,the deceased,Noora Rathwa,sustained multiple injuries that completely damaged his liver.

The prima facie evidence had shown that Rathwa was beaten up in police custody; the postmortem report further confirmed it,attributing death to the deceased’s damaged liver. “This is the provisional report. The viscera of the deceased have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Surat. Further investigation is being done at the Pathology laboratory at SSG Hospital as well,” said Dr Beejaysinh Rathod,a panel doctor from the Department of Forensic Medicine,SSG Hospital.

Rathwa was arrested by the Kwant police for attacking an assistant sub-inspector of the police station,who had refused to register his complaint about his 18-year-old daughter’s elopement. Rathwa was then allegedly beaten up in custody.

The body was brought to SSG Hospital late on Friday,where the postmortem was conducted on Saturday morning. The body was retuned to the kin of the deceased in the afternoon.

Meanwhile,Vadodara District Collector Vijay Nehra,on Saturday,commissioned a judicial inquiry into the incident. Usually,a magisterial inquiry is conducted in such cases,but the decision was taken considering the seriousness of the case.

ENS