NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday in its order refused to examine and pass any orders on a plea alleging sexual assault and custodial torture of a 17-year-old boy by Gujarat Police.
The SC asked the petitioner to move to the High Court, noting that "we have all sympathies for you. We have all sympathies for you, but why did you not approach the HC?" the Bench of the apex court told the lawyer.
The plea was filed by the petitioner, the sister of the victim.
The top court's two-judge Bench, headed by Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta, asked the lawyer appearing for her to move to the Gujarat High Court for relief in the case.
The Supreme Court on Friday, September 12, decided to hear on Monday the plea alleging sexual assault and custodial torture of the 17-year-old boy by Gujarat Police.
Rohin Bhatt, lawyer for the sister of the victim, sought a direction from the top court to set up a court-monitored SIT (Special Investigation Team) or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which does not include Gujarat cadre police in the alleged torture and sexual assault.
The petition claimed that the minor boy was apprehended last month by officials of Botad Town Police Station at a fair in the district on allegations of theft of gold and cash.
"From August 19 to 28, while in the illegal custody, the minor was brutally beaten by four to six police officers at Botad Town Police Station and subjected to sexual assault through the insertion of sticks into his anus," said the plea filed in the top court.
"He was neither produced before the Juvenile Justice Board nor a Magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest. Furthermore, the police failed to conduct a medical examination of the minor upon his arrest," the plea claimed.
Highlighting the gross violation of the established arrest procedures and the law laid down by the Court in numerous judgments, the petitioner claimed that the police failed to conduct a medical examination of him upon his arrest.
The top court was apprised on Friday -- during the mentioning by Bhatt -- that while the minor boy was admitted to a local hospital in Botad on September 1, where he received treatment for injuries sustained, no details regarding his admission or medical treatment have been provided to any family member till the time of filing this petition.