Colleague exposes torture by Orissa police

According to reports, Saroj Sandha was arrested by police on March 21 last after he allegedly threw water colours on a policeman during the Holi festival. Sandha was then brought to the police station where he was reportedly tortured and made to drink Sahu’s urine.

But what has made this different from other atrocity complaints and complicated matters for the police force is that the damning picture was taken by a policeman and how it found its way to the Press.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Bargarh SP B.B. Nayak fumed: “How can they go to the Press without bringing it to the notice of their superiors?”

Orissa DGP S.K. Chatterjee reaction — dismissing the incident as a “comical gesticulation” of the ASI — further embarassed the police force. Chatterjee, however, told this reporter: “It is unfortunate that my own staff has let me down.”

Explaining his reported reaction to the incident, he claimed that the report by the DIG (Northern Range) on the incident was in English and when a statement on the basis of this report was translated into Oriya, a part of the text got distorted. The final statement — in Oriya — dismissing the entire incident as a joke was signed by the DGP, who later said some subversive forces in his department are trying to tarnish his clean image.