From a Correspondent
JORHAT, September 28: Siddhartha Kaushik Dutta was crippled for his life due an acute left kidney injury owing to alleged inhumane torture in police custody by the present Officer-in-Charge of Jorhat Police station, Pradip Borah in 2014. The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Jorhat, by taking cognizance of the case while acting upon a petition filed by mother Riju Sarma Dutta, had registered a Crimil Case 174/14 against Pradip Borah and other accomplices like the IC of Pulibor, Hrishikesh Hazarika, ASI Pramod Bora, constable Diganta alias Ranjit and a civilian Rupanzal Borbora. Siddhartha Kaushik Dutta, whose life is yet to limp back to normalcy, is now up against the OC and the IC for making his life miserable.
Talking to The Sentinel, Siddhartha Kaushik Dutta said, “People generally forget about an incident and the victim after a lapse of time. But the dilemma I am passing through has become unbearable and its time I disclose what these two notorious officers did to my life by branding me as an extortionist who had links with ULFA. Firstly it was the IC of the Pulibor Outpost Hrishikesh Hazarika who lured me to sign a copy behind closed doors in his chamber which notified that I had links with an extortion demand served to one Gudhar Das and serve a jail term for three months and thereafter get bail and continue with normal work in Dergaon, the hometown of the IC, and that the IC would set me up a business while in the meantime matters with Rupanzal Borbora would be settled and that he would be no longer after my life which he was capable of being a influential man and with monetary background. This is he told me as a brother and not as a policeman as I was student of Hrishikesh Hazarika’s father who was the principal of Dergaon Higher Secondary School and was close to my family. I did what he said fearing for my life but I didn’t know that the next two days in Jorhat Police station would prove to be my worst nightmare under OC Pradip Borah.”
Dutta further said, “Medical examition was performed and after producing me before the CJM, the police got three days custody and I was in the lock up when at around 2:30 PM at night the constable accompanied by another policeman who was not in uniform took me to the first floor of the police station and into a room with only a table and a chair. Soon a policeman dressed in the uniform of an officer came in and asked me about my links with ULFA. The moment I said no and denied any links someone gave a heavy punch in my back and I fell down on the floor and soon volley of punches, blows and kicks followed and at one time they tied my legs and hit me with bottles. I became unconscious and when I woke up I was in the lock up but didn’t have strength in my legs.”
He added, “After a cup of tea I was now taken to the OC’s room and only then I realized that the one seated was the person who had interrogated me the night earlier. OC Pradip Bora pulled down the rod of the curtains and started hitting me while threatening me to worsen my life even after I came out from the jail. At one moment I mustered enough guts to ask him why he was so mercilessly hitting me. OC Pradip Bora asked the constable to release my hands and first kicked me severely on my left stomach and another in succession on my right stomach. I could not see properly but could hear the OC calling someone and instructing him to close down my shop no 68 at Unyan Super Market and again calling a doctor to immediately come to the police station and lodge an FIR against me for an alleged extortion. Thereafter, I was told that an Additiol SP was on his way who would pluck my ils out to find the truth. Nevertheless, seeing my worsening condition I was taken to JMCH where doctors immediately sensed my condition and prescribed some test. But the accompanying ASI Pramod Bora asked me to refrain from doing the test and advised me to immediately move into jail custody, the place where I would get relief. I reached jail and the next day I started bleeding through urine and the jail authorities moved me to JMCH where I stayed for three days and doctors confirmed about my kidney damage with spots and referred me to AMC Dibrugarh where I had to undergo seven times dialysis.”
The Additiol CJM Jorhat had registered the case 174/14 against the accused policeman U/S 166/220/330/326/387/109/120(B),115 IPC and noted in the remarks that even though some accused persons are public servants, no sanction for their prosecution is required U/S 197 CrPC as the allegations against them clearly shows that they had acted beyond their scope of official duty leave apart while discharging those duty.
Two out of the four accused policemen have a known history of political interference while one has a relative who is posted in the rank of a Deputy Secretary in the Home Department of the Assam Government.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate had urged the complaint to take steps upon the accused through the SP, Jorhat and accused Rupanzal Borbora through usual method. Siddhartha Kaushik Dutta is a crippled man today who cannot even afford to buy medicines for his treatment and has been forced to take local traditiol medicines and homeopathy. But the sheer will of the victim is praiseworthy, who has till date refused to compromise with his ‘tormentors’.