CHENNAI: Seven juveniles were arrested, held in a police station and allegedly assaulted by policemen on Monday in what could be yet another blatant violation of the juvenile protection laws.
The boys in the 15-18 age group, all residents of Semmencherry, hailing from economically poor families, were picked from their houses around 3 am in connection with a burglary of a cellphone shop in the locality. Even as their family members were waiting outside the police station, a few of the boys were allegedly beaten up by the policemen to extract information about another absconding person wanted in the case.
“They were made to stand in a row against a wall and a policemen was holding a thick yellow polypropylene pipe. Every few minutes, he would flick it and rap the palm or the knuckles of one or the other boys standing there. This was visible even from the entrance,” said Nityanand Jayaraman, a well-known environment activist, who said he witnessed the assault when he visited the Sholinganallur police station around 10.30 am.
The police officers said two of the arrested juveniles had carried out a burglary in a cellphone shop in the locality in the wee hours on Friday and distributed the phones to six of their friends in the locality. “We allowed six of the boys to leave after they surrendered the phones,” said a police officer.
An officer, while acknowledging that the boys were taken to the police station, denied that they were beaten up. “We never hit any of the boys. We had interrogated more than 35 boys in this case and finally fixed the suspects,” said the officer.
However, the family members of the juveniles said that the boys had injuries when they emerged from the police station. “My son was not involved in any crime, but he was beaten up black and blue. He has suffered injuries in hands and scar marks in his face,” said the mother of one of the six juveniles who was later allowed to go home by the police.
“One of the boys has his exams today. He studies well. He may not be able to write the exams as he hit repeatedly on his hands,” said Jayaraman.Activists point out that it was illegal for the police to hold the juveniles in the police stations for hours. The Juvenile Justice Act lays down the procedures on how a juvenile in conflict with law can be questioned.
“Such incidents show that the crime committed by the police is much higher than that of mobile theft,” said A Narayanan, an activist who had been waging a legal battle for implementation of the juvenile protection laws.
In January 2014, a 14-year-old boy picked up in connection with a temple hundi case was shot in the neck from an inspector’s pistol. Last year, two police head constables were suspended for forcing a 19-year-old boy to perform oral sex when he was in custody at Mambalam police station. “Once a child is rescued or found in conflict with law, the parents and the probation officer should be informed and produced before a member of the juvenile justice board,” said Zaheeruddin Mohamad, a member of the Child Welfare Committee of Kancheepuram district.
When contacted, a senior police officer said the personnel were instructed on how they should handle juveniles. “I will look into the issue,” he said.