To
ACP (Vigilance)
Sri. P.C. Gopichand
PS. Parliament Street.
New Delhi. 110011


March 25 2002

Dear Sir,

We are writing to you to lodge a complaint against the
incidents that took place yesterday/early morning
today regarding ourselves. We have noted below the
occurances , followed by each of our experiences and
finally, our request and appeal to you.

Stage I :
A group of police men (appx 7 persons, in uniform and
without) approached Ram, a kabari in Raja Bazar and
asked him to produce a battery stolen /lost from the
PS Beat Box in Barakhamba Road. Ram requested them to
search his shop as he had not bought any battery. This
was done at the instance of a Asami, whom none of us
have had any dealings with, but who had named us as
the buyers of the battery. However, they picked Ram up
and took him away in an auto-rickshaw. They then
reached Connaught Place, where they picked up Santu,
also a kabari, who works at the Garbage Station
situated there. They also picked up Ajay Rai, who was
present there, because he had come to inform Santu
that Ram had been taken away and to rush to the Police
Station.

The policemen appeared to be in an inebriated state,
which was surprising since it was a dry day.

Stage II :
All of us (Ram, Santu and Ajit Rai) were taken to the
Fire Brigade Beat box, where we were severely beaten
with belts, lathis, and other items. We are able to
identify at least two of the personnel by name :
Mukesh and Manoj. Several other policemen were also
present at that time. Given below are our individual
versions :

Ram :
I was beaten with lathis, one of which also broke on
my back. One of the policemen in uniform also sat on
my chest , kneeling and pressing his knee onto my
chest and causing me great pain. I was also hit with
a tube like material, which is found in vehicles. They
also tied up my mouth when I screamed to prevent me
from being heard. Two policemen caught my forearms and
held me tightly , leaning against a pillar like tree
and two others whipped us, and ordered us to confess
to having bought the stolen battery. Apart from my
back, I was also beaten severely on the soles of my
feet.

I have severe beating marks on my back, great pain in
my eyes and feet, muscle pain and body ache. I am
unable to walk and have to lie down as one of my legs
is also injured.
************************

Santu :
I was also beaten similarly with lathis, a belt and
other items. They told me that the battery cost them
Rs. 7500 and they were not going to leave me to
compensate them either through cash or by producing a
battery. I told them I had no battery , where upon
they began to beat me further. In fact, after being
beaten and in pain, I believed it was better for me to
agree to anything that the police asked me to confess,
rather than allow them to maim or kill me. Then they
asked the identified person how much he had sold the
battery to me for. He named the price of Rs. 500. By
this time, I had fallen down due to excessive beatings
and I agreed that I had bought the battery for Rs. 400
and sold it for Rs. 500, as I did not wish to be
killed. Then they asked me for a battery for Rs. 7500
: paid for in cash or a new battery. Finally, they
searched me and found Rs. 2000 on my person, which was
entrusted to me as part of my work as a waste manager
with Chintan. This they kept, but returned later, when
I asked for it while leaving, after noting down my
address and name. They asked me to produce a battery
by 10 am.

I have great pain on both my legs, marks of the
beatings and am in great pain.
************************

Ajit Rai :
I was beaten, like the others severely and also
suffered from profusely bleeding injuries on my left
leg. They forced me to say that I was also with Osami
while he was supposed to have stolen their battery.
************************

All three of us were beaten after being held by our
arms across a tree and all of us were beaten on our
soles very badly.

Meanwhile, Mr. Asami, the accused, was also constantly
given dozes of smack, to which he is addicted, while
we were being beaten. None of us work with Asami and
hardly know him. We are entirely unaware as to whether
or not he stole the battery and if it was
stolen. However, we wish to point out some of our
observations :

1.. All of us have Identify Cards, which show that
our work and presence in the NDMC Connaught Place Area
is acknowledged clearly. The Police Station has knows
about these clearly, as we have had several
interactions with them and other Police Stations and
laso given them copies of these. Santu is part of the
Chintan Staff and works as a waste manager on field
projects. Chintan, an NGO working with the NDMC on
waste -related issues, has also facilitated
interactions with the Police. Waste collected from
some projects is often sold to Ram directly. However,
all this information, apart from proper procedures,
were brushed aside in favour of picking us up late at
night and beating us up mercilessly.

2.. We have been picking up and selling waste
generated in this city , and we make our ends meet on
the waste that is thrown out, albeit with
difficulties. However, the police repeatedly told us
that every ragpicker and kabari was essentially a
thief.

3. We tried to have a medical examination done at
4:30am, after being released, at RML Hospital, but
were denied this as we did not have a letter from the
Police Station.

We would like to request for the following :


1.. A through medical examination and treatment.

2.. An enquiry into the entire incident and
appropriate punishment to those who have tortured us.

3.. Prevention of such incidents in the future,
through an identified official whom we can approach
for these and also, minor problems.

4.. A monthly meeting to evaluate the progress and
events of the last month and to move ahead.

We have tried many times to co-operate with the
police, often successfully. It is very sad that we
still are called thieves and that a citizen can be
picked up for interrogation at any hour, in this
irresponsible manner and treated without any regard to
his rights.

We wish to launch this as our complaint.


Santu

Ajit Rai

Ram