Three women stripped, beaten in Assam's Darrang Police Station; two cops suspended for 'custodial torture', case filed

A case has been filed on Tuesday against an Assam police officer and a constable for allegedly torturing a pregnant woman and her sisters inside a police station in the state’s Darrang district. Reports said that the two police personnel, Mahendra Sarma and Binita Boro, had also been suspended after the criminal cases were filed against them. The three women accused the officials of “custodial torture, including being stripped, kicked and beaten with lathis”, after they were picked up after a case was registered against their brother for allegedly kidnapping a Hindu woman, The Indian Express reported. Reports also said that the pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage because of the assault and one of the sisters, who is partially differently-abled in one leg, was hit on the same leg repeatedly. [caption id=“attachment_3904781” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Even though the incident took place on 8 September, it only came to light on Tuesday after the women approached the media claiming that the police were refusing to file a case, The New Indian Express reported. The sisters, aged 28, 30 and 18, had written a “detailed” account of the incident in a complaint to police saying Sarma and Boro “stripped us naked, assaulted us and touched our private parts". On the day they were picked up, the assault only stopped the after their brother, who was reportedly in Meghalaya’s Shillong with the woman he had allegedly kidnapped, surrendered at the police outpost. The women told reporters that the two were involved in an affair and there was no instance of kidnapping. “He arrived with the girl at 6.30 am at the outpost. He asked them why we were tortured for a case against him. They beat him too. We believe the two of them (her brother and the woman) were involved in a full-fledged affair,” one of the sisters was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. Amrit Bhuyan, Darrang superintendent of police, was quoted as saying that the family of the Hindu woman had filed a case of kidnapping against the brother. Reportedly, the police also claimed that the woman told them she had been taken “forcibly”. The women also alleged that when told that one of the sisters was pregnant, Sarma told them not to “act”. He also put point a pistol at them when questioned about why they were being taken to the police station. “If the inquiry points to use of excess force, then necessary action will be taken against the police official,” Bhuyan added.