A case of sheer horror and shame has come to light in Bengaluru where cops brutally kicked, punched and charged lathis on youth for using his phone while riding a bike. Mohammed Tanveer stepped out with his friend Danish on April 10 midnight to buy some medicines for his father. While they were on their way to the medical store, Tanveer was speaking to his mother over the phone as she was telling him the name of the medicines he was supposed to get.
Police-constable Ayyappa caught him on the way and asked him to hang up the call. Tanveer took a few seconds to disconnect the call which annoyed Ayyappa and he beat Tanveer with his lathi so bad that it broke in two pieces, narrated Tanveer’s brother Musaveer to TNM.
Sharing his brother’s horrifying ordeal, Musaveer said, “My brother told Ayyappa to impose a fine on him and take away his bike but beating him was not the right thing to do. That’s when Ayyappa called the Hoysala and forced Tanveer and Danish to get in. Sub Inspector Santosh was also inside the Hoysala. Tanveer was pushed into the back seat. There was another constable sitting at the back, who beat him on his legs continuously till they reached the station.”
He, later on, dragged him out of the police van and cops took turns to beat him up all night from 1 am to 8 am. “Throughout the night they beat him. They broke four lathis and one iron rod was damaged while they beat him with it. Ayyappa banged my brother’s head to the metal rods of the jail door multiple times and spat on him. He called the other constables and made him spit on my brother while my father watched,” Musaveer claimed.
One of the sub-inspectors made Tanveer and Danish write ‘I will never talk back to the police’ 1000 times and released them at 5 pm. The 23-year old man could not move his body and was completely bedridden since then. A few days later his mother noticed blood in his urine and he was rushed to a nearby clinic where doctors said that his kidneys have been damaged. He was then taken to Shifaa Hospital on April 17, where the doctors informed the family that his condition is critical.
“They told us that he has to undergo dialysis. Tests showed that Tanveer’s blood creatinine levels had increased drastically and he has been battling for his life since April 18. Doctors said that if his creatinine levels do not decrease soon, he may not survive,” Musaveer said.
Ayyappa and SI Santosh have been suspended and an FIR has been filed against them and seven other police officers.
Such an inhumane act of brutality coming from the police, who are on contrary meant to protect the civilians makes our heart cringe. Hope justice is served to the poor young man who is fighting for his life soon.