SC slams Chhattisgarh cops for doc's torture

New Delhi : Reproaching "some megalomaniac police officers" who think they are the "law" and not its protectors, the Supreme Court on Friday slammed the Chhattisgarh Police for torturing an Ayurvedic doctor in custody 20 years ago. It also ordered the police to pay a compensation of Rs five lakh to the doctor for the "inhuman treatment" and "social humiliation" caused after posters describing him as a thief were put up.

A Bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra, while observing "it is luculent that the appellant had undergone mental torture at the hands of insensible police officials", directed the state to recover the compensation amount from the erring officers in equal proportions from their salaries.

Mehmood Nayyar Azam, an ayurvedic doctor who worked as a social activist in Chhattisgarh's Chirimiri district and led agitations against coal mafia, trade unions and corrupt police officials, was framed in a few false criminal cases in 1992.

He was booked in a false case of theft of electricity and illegally detained on September 23, 1992 and beaten up. He was photographed with a banner declaring him as a thief and cheat. On his release, Azam learnt his photographs had been widely circulated in the area. The incident reportedly left a deep scar on his family life.

Azam moved the High Court in 2001. A decade later, the court declared the officers guilty but asked Azam to approach the state government for compensation. The state government rejected his representation in March this year following which Azam moved the Supreme Court.

Source: The Indian Express