Jul
1
Custodial Death in Punjab
July 1, 2005 | Comments Off on Custodial Death in Punjab
In late June, Gurinder Singh Bhullar died
in judicial custody, 43 days after his arrest. His daughter Rupa
states that he died from torture and police failure to provide him with
his medications, despite his suffering from diabetes and high blood
pressure:
Though
he was suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, he was
allegedly tortured and shuttled between Chandigarh and Nawanshahr as
the Punjab police and the NCB [Narcotics Control Bureau] were in
conflict with each other over his custody. If at all there were any
charges against him, the job of the authorities was to prove it in a
court rather than make him die a slow death by medical neglect, mental
torture and humiliation”, she says.
She alleges that right from his first court appearance they tried to deny her father legal representation….
On
May 30, when he was produced again in the Balachaur court, the
magistrate looked at his condition, realised its seriousness and
ordered him to be hospitalised. His feet were swollen, he could barely
walk. His toes were bleeding with no sign of any first aid.
“He
was not sent to the hospital immediately. Instead he was taken to
Ludhiana jail, sent to the Ludhiana Civil Hospital the next day from
where he was referred to the PGI. All this time his condition
deteriorated, but the family was not informed about it. He was admitted
to the PGI where he died a few hours later .The cause of his death
conveyed to us was heart attack. After two days and several hours of
paperwork, his swollen and bruised body was handed over to us.”
he was suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, he was
allegedly tortured and shuttled between Chandigarh and Nawanshahr as
the Punjab police and the NCB [Narcotics Control Bureau] were in
conflict with each other over his custody. If at all there were any
charges against him, the job of the authorities was to prove it in a
court rather than make him die a slow death by medical neglect, mental
torture and humiliation”, she says.
She alleges that right from his first court appearance they tried to deny her father legal representation….
On
May 30, when he was produced again in the Balachaur court, the
magistrate looked at his condition, realised its seriousness and
ordered him to be hospitalised. His feet were swollen, he could barely
walk. His toes were bleeding with no sign of any first aid.
“He
was not sent to the hospital immediately. Instead he was taken to
Ludhiana jail, sent to the Ludhiana Civil Hospital the next day from
where he was referred to the PGI. All this time his condition
deteriorated, but the family was not informed about it. He was admitted
to the PGI where he died a few hours later .The cause of his death
conveyed to us was heart attack. After two days and several hours of
paperwork, his swollen and bruised body was handed over to us.”
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.