CHANDIGARH: The brutalities being committed by the Punjab police were again on focus in a writ petition filed by Satwant Kaur. A division bench Justice H.S. Bedi issued notice of motion for April 9, 1995 in the case of alleged custodial death of Dr. Santosh Singh, Agriculture Development Officer, of the department of agriculture, Ludhiana.
It was submitted that Dr. Santosh: Singh went to Samala on Dec.11, 1994 along with two of his colleagues to attend some marriage. Around 5:45 pm the victim and his friends boarded a bus for Ludhiana via Doraha.
At Doraha the victim alighted from…. the bus while his colleagues alighted at G.T. Road Doraha, from where they took a bus to Ludhiana. His colleagues reached home, but the victim never returned home. On enquiry it was found that the victim, under influence of liquor went and lied down on a cot lying outside the house of a woman, who on seeing a stranger in her courtyard, called her brother and neighbors on telephone.
All of them joined in beating up the victim and ultimately handed him over to the police of police at Doraha. The police personnel, namely Agya Kar Singh sub-inspector, Kulwinder Singh constable, Gurmukh Singh S.P.O. and Amarjit Singh, home guard who manned the police post at Doraha gave severe beating to the victim as a result of which he died in the police post and his dead body was disposed of by the said police officials.
It was submitted that the preliminary enquiry by a Superintendent of Police has found the concerned police officials at fault.
The counsel pleaded that the case deserved to be investigated by an in- dependent agency like CBI to cover the truth and bring the guilty to book.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 10, 1995
