Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has directed the Home department to pay Rs 1 lakh compensation to the family of a youth for his illegal detention by cops in 2012.
The commission has also recommended the department to collect the amount from the authorities responsible for the illegal detention. The rights body gave the directions while hearing a plea filed by the parents of the victim soon after he lodged a complaint with commission following the incident.
The victim, Balaram Sahoo alias Balia, son of an elderly couple Mahanta and Shasi Behera, had a garage near Baramunda over-bridge in 2012. Mahanta had a small tiffin shop in Khandagiri area.
The couple alleged that Khandagiri police had picked up their son while he was in his garage July 2, 2012. Later, they kept him in custody at Khandagiri police station. “However, when I asked the police about the whereabouts of my son they denied having any knowledge about him despite the fact that my son was present inside the police station, alleged Mahanta.
Later, they handed him over to Kandarpur police in Cuttack on the allegations of hatching a robbery plot along with some others near a temple on Mahanadi embankment. He was also kept in custody there for a few more days before he was produced in the court. He was kept in custody from July 2 to 5 in violation of the rule that clearly directs the cops who can keep an accused in the custody for a maximum period of 24 hours.
The commission later directed the investigating wing of OHRC to probe the allegations made by the couple. It also went through answers submitted by the then police officials of both Khandagiri and Kandarpur police station and the statements of the witnesses.
The commission found 10 IICs of the police stations guilty and directed the Home department to pay the victim Rs 1 lakh as compensation within two months.