UP Govt relief to victims of police beating

The acts of high-handedness by PAC personnel brought out in the report of the NHRC’s investigation wing were also corroborated by an inquiry by the state CID, which has filed a charge-sheet against 28 PAC personnel in the case, the sources said.

After an on-the-spot inquiry and meetings with victims, eyewitnesses and police officials, the NHRC team found that the function to felicitate Dr Vijay Pratap Roy was organised at the place ofone of his friends on the Asi ghat of River Ganga on the intervening night of August 3 and 4.

Those who had assembled at the function were mostly students. A Bhojpuri folk singer known for his recorded cassettes was also present, they said, adding there was reportedly some interference by an outsider, said to be a company commander of the PAC battalion located near the place on flood duty.

He appeared to have objected to the gathering at that venue and abused the students, they said.

The sources said the matter subsided and the gathering settled down to dinner but when they were dining in the room, some 70 to 80 PAC personnel descended on them and started beating up the invitees with batons and rifle butts.

The PAC personnel also handcuffed some of them and detained them despite the intervention of the local police who urged their release, the sources said, adding some of the tenants and occupants of the building were also roughed up by the PAC jawans.

They said Vinod Kumar Pandey, a wrestlerresiding nearby, was also picked and beaten up and an effort made to implicate him in a false case under the Arms Act.

The two cases sought to be registered by the PAC personnel against the wrestler and against the students were also investigated by the state CID which, in substance, found that the cases were mere “counter-blasts”, sources said.

The state CID has accordingly filed final reports after completion of investigation before a court, holding that the cases started by the PAC personnel were unsubstantiated, the sources said.

The Commission held that the PAC personnel were public servants and that the state government had a vicarious liability for the acts of its servants.

Taking into account the unprovoked nature of the attack, wrongful confinement and the gravity of the injuries caused to the victims, the Commission recommended payment of interim relief.

The NHRC asked the UP government to pay Rs 25,000 to Manoj Kumar Tiwari `Mridul’, the singer, Rs 20,000 each to Satish Chander Singh,Ajay Kumar Singh and Vinod Kumar Pandey and Rs 10,000 each to 16 other people by way of interim relief, the sources said. The Commission, while making the recommendations, also took into account the likely costs of medical treatment, the prospects of physical incapacitation, residual impairment of the faculties and violation of the dignity of the victims, they said.