The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) has recommended the registration of an FIR against officials of Bharati Vidyapeeth police station over alleged custodial torture, illegal detention and public parading of eight juveniles/children in conflict with the law (CCL), including three who were tied to the bonnet of a police vehicle and paraded through Pune on July 21.
The order records that three children were tied with rope to the bonnet of a police vehicle and publicly paraded from the Ambegaon Pathar outpost to Bharati Vidyapeeth police station. The commission also criticised the police response after the incident. The commission further noted that the police inquiry into the bonnet-parade incident was one-sided, as the statements of the children who were allegedly subjected to the incident were not recorded.
It said Kumar was aware of the viral video on July 21 itself but no FIR was registered. The eight CCL allegedly remained in police custody till the late hours of July 24 without being produced before the Juvenile Justice Board within the prescribed period. The MSHRC had taken suo moto cognisance of the incident on August 3 and ordered a fact-finding inquiry.
Since the report contains allegations against Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar who holds the rank of additional director-general of police, the commission said that the investigation should be entrusted to an officer of the rank of ADGP or above. The commission said that the finding was supported by oral and electronic evidence and was not disputed by the Pune police commissioner in his affidavit. “When law enforcement officers weaponise their authority to inflict such treatment on a child, they do not uphold rule of law but utterly dismantle it,” the commission observed. It described the public parade as “a calculated campaign of psychological warfare” that stripped the minors of their dignity and permanently branded them as criminals. The order said that the commissioner’s show-cause notice against police officers acknowledged that the eight CCL had been illegally detained, subjected to cruelty, and not produced before the Juvenile Justice Board within the prescribed time. However, the commission criticised the use of the term “accused” for children in conflict with the law, saying that it ignored the Juvenile Justice Act.
The case had earlier attracted attention after videos showed three juveniles allegedly tied to a police vehicle and paraded through the Bharati Vidyapeeth area. In an interim order issued on Wednesday, a full bench of the commission directed the director-general of police (DGP) Maharashtra to treat the fact-finding committee’s report and annexures as the FIR, and ensure an expeditious investigation.
