MEDAK: With each passing day, Medak police are finding themselves in deep trouble with regard to the death of Md Qadeer. People from different sections of society have been vehemently condemning the police for allegedly beating up the victim so ruthlessly that he succumbed later in a hospital.
Even as the Medak police have maintained that they are not responsible for Qadeer’s death, they have not been able to convincingly answer the questions being raised by the victim’s family members. The way police handled the entire case has also put a question mark on the ‘friendly policing policy’ of the State government.
After the suspension of four cops — Medak town CI Madhu, SI Rajasekhar, and Constables Prashanth and Pawan Kumar — on Sunday, the victim’s family member demanded that criminal cases be registered against them. It may be mentioned here that a case of chain snatching was registered in Medak town on January 27. On suspicion of his involvement in the case, Qadeer was detained on January 29. As per the protocol, if a person is detained, police are supposed to produce him in court and seek remand or release the detainee if his involvement is not established.
However, Qadeer was kept behind bars for at least five days and beaten up. Instead of releasing him, on February 3, the police handed him over to his wife Siddeshwari after having her sign a bind-over order by the Medak tahsildar.
“He (Qadeer) was beaten up so badly that his kidneys were damaged,” Siddeshwari said.As his condition worsened, the police admitted him to a private hospital in Medak and paid bills worth Rs 2 lakh. “If the police had nothing to do with it as they claim, why did they admit him to a private hospital and pay for his treatment,” she asked.
On February 17, as he showed no signs of recovery, doctors referred him to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad for advanced treatment. Even that could not save Qadeer. He finally passed away on Friday morning.
‘Send police to jail’
Siddeshwari further alleged that while bringing the body back to Medak, the police changed ambulances twice and also burned some documents. “If Medak police are not responsible for Qadeer’s death, they must explain why they had to change the ambulance to shift the body. They must also answer what documents did they burn and why they did it,” said a furious Siddeshwari.
Medak residents are wondering why criminal cases haven’t been filed against the errant cops yet. “It has already been established that police were responsible for Qadeer’s death. Suspension is not enough. Those responsible must be sent to jail,” said a local resident.
Meanwhile, Civil Rights
Association president Prof G Laxman, secretary Prof Narayana and advocate Bhupathi visited the victim’s family on Monday. They collected information about the case and demanded that the accused policemen be booked under Section 302 of IPC.
They also demanded compensation of Rs 1 crore for the victim’s family and a government job for his wife. Qadeer, who worked as a daily wage labourer, is survived by his wife and two children.
HC takes TNIE report as sou moto petition
The High Court on Monday took suo moto writ petition on the basis of a news article published in The New Indian Express under the headline “Death of theft accused in police custody”. The matter is scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday.
The TNIE report said that Mohammed Qadeer, a daily-wage worker, had died due to alleged Medak police torture in custody on January 27 during interrogation in an alleged theft case. The Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Home), DPG, Superintendent of Police, Medak district, and the SHO of Medak police station are named respondents in the petition.
ALSO READ | Four Medak cops suspended for custodial death