Medical reports confirm torture of Nerella victims

Hyderabad: The medical reports submitted to the High Court at Hyderabad relating to torture of Dalits by police in Nerella case confirmed that their private parts had been damaged in the torture. This was stated by the division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice J Uma Devi after perusing the reports on Tuesday.

Questioning the state government as to why all the victims had wounds at the same place, the bench asked about the difference about injuries in the report submitted by the Siricilla Area Hospital and the one given by the health officer in jail.

The bench directed Telangana Advocate-General D Prakash Reddy to submit a report in tabular form comparing the injuries as per the reports.

The division bench gave these directions while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Civil Liberties Committee president Gaddam Lakshman seeking a CBI probe into this incident and punishing the guilty police officers apart from providing better treatment to the victims of police torture.

Justice (Retd) Chandrakumar had also written a letter on this issue to the High Court that converted it into a PIL and hearing it together. The AG submitted the reports to the bench as was directed during the previous hearing and after perusing the same, the bench raised several questions.

All the victims’ private parts appeared to have been damaged and similar injuries at the same spot were there. How could this be, asked the bench. The AG replied that initially it was thought the victims sustained injuries in the lathi-charge but later it was found that the sub-inspector of police beat them up during investigation and therefore the SI was suspended.

He agreed there was difference in the two reports. The counsel for the petitioner V Raghunath intervened and said that the victims were not only beaten up but also given electric shocks. The bench directed the AG to submit the comparative charts relating to the injuries and adjourned the case.