“i was sexually exploited in the police station lock-up by two police personnel on the night of November 28″ : The shocking disclosure was made by Santosh, wife or Surjit Kumar, a Karnal resident, who was wrongly arrested on charges of selling 100 liquor pouches six years ago and lodged in Model Jail, Burail, for 14 days.
The Chandigarh Police, however, were supposed to arrest another woman with the same name - Santosh, wife of Jeet Singh - who herself surrendered in the court on Tuesday morning leaving the police ducking for cover.
Now, while the Chandigarh Police, who have taken fingerprints of both women - Santosh, wife of Surjit Kumar and Santosh, wife of Jeet Singh - are banking on the fingerprint bureau report for establishing the identity of the real accused.
Talking to Chandigarh Newsline, Santosh Kumar narrated her trauma she experienced ever since she was picked up by three Chandigarh Police personnel - Head Constable Ramkumar, and two constables, one of them a woman. All three are posted in Sector 36 police station.
“Three police personnel came and knocked at our door in the afternoon of November 28. They told us that i am wanted by the police for selling liquor six years ago. They added that i had jumped my bail and thus declared a proclaimed offender. i was arrested and brought to Chandigarh. They kept me in the lock-up and in the night, two uniformed personnel entered my lock-up and started misbehaving with me. They passed obscene remarks and then asked me to oblige them physically, if i want to be let off. Despite my cries, nobody came for my rescue and they outraged my modesty,” Santosh told.
Newsline has a voice-recording of Santosh, in which she clearly alleged that she was not only molested in the police station on the night of her arrest, but police personnel even asked her to give a wrong statement in court and asked her to say that she had committed the crime.
“They promised me that i will be let off with a fine of a few hundred rupees. When the court sent me to jail, my husband and relatives asked these police personnel to help them, to which they refused and vanished from the court,” Santosh added.
On asking why didn’t she defend herself in court, Santosh said, “The police personnel threatened me with dire consequences and asked me to say in court that i was the one caught selling liquor. They said i’d be let off if i did as they said.”
it was a traumatic fortnight for Santosh in Burail’s Model Jail.
“My wife can’t step out of our house now. People accuse her of being a criminal. How can you face anybody in the neighbourhood when you were seen taken away handcuffed by the police personnel? Who would believe that she is innocent?” said her husband.
Surjit Kumar, who works as an ironsmith in Shiv Colony, Karnal told that his two-room house also has to be sold for a meager sum of Rs 1.5 lakh - most of the money was spent in Santosh’s bail. “Now we will have to get the other Santosh, wife of Jeet Singh, out on bail too. We are in process of arranging money for her, as her family’s financial condition is not at all good. Her husband works as a rickshaw puller and does not earn well,” Surjit Kumar told.
inspector iS Mann, Station House Officer, Police Station-36 said: “Her allegations are baseless and do not hold any substance. She was kept in lock-up in a proper manner and i have checked it, she was not harassed physically”.
Posted By Staff Reporter
in Punjab News
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