Fury over youth’s death in UP police custody (India)

all credits: India Today
published: 14th November 2011

A 22-year-old youth allegedly died in police custody on Sunday in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district. At least 40 villagers, including 12 women, who were protesting against Ranjeet Maurya’s death – one more in a series of such incidents – sustained serious injuries when the police used force to quell the agitation.

Ranjeet, from Thakarwa village, was picked up by the police late on Saturday for involvement in a minor scuffle with some affluent villagers over a piece of land. The police informed Ranjeet’s family the next morning that he had hanged himself to death in the lock-up.

The incident took place at the Thakarwa police outpost of Nighasan Police station where a 14-year-old Muslim girl was allegedly raped and killed this June by the policemen on duty.

SP Amit Chandra said on Ranjeet’s death: “While the policemen claim he committed suicide, the villagers insist they killed him. In any case, the police officers had kept Ranjeet in illegal custody.”

“The in-charge of the outpost and two constables who were on duty on Saturday night have been suspended,” he added.

Chandra admitted the situation was volatile as a large number of angry villagers had set fire to the police outpost and damaged vehicles.

District magistrate Abhishek Prakash ordered a magisterial inquiry into Ranjeet’s death. “It is a serious case and there is no question of sparing the culprits,” he said.

Ram Prakash, a villager, alleged that at least six custody deaths took place in the district over the past one year. “They order an inquiry and save the accused,” he said.

He claimed that the police officers had fired at the protesters and many of them were wounded.

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Posted by Tippa Naphtali on 20/11/2011. Filed under Custody Deaths,Police Brutality & Killings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry