SC lawyer slams Bangalore cops for torturing his brother

Bangalore, Jan 15: Supreme Court lawyer Somnath Bharti has slammed the Bangalore Police for torturing his brother Loknath on Jan 12. In this connection, the advocate has filed a complaint against Circle Inspector Srinivas Reddy, SI Dalle Gowda and other "unnamed persons" at the HSR Layout police station.

According to Somnath, his brother was wrongly arrested in order to defame him. He feels that the Bangalore Police are trying to help their counterparts in Delhi.

It is to be noted that the lawyer is defending the eight people who have been accused of causing the death of police constable Subash Chand Tomar during the protests over the Delhi gangrape. However, at least two of the accused have pointed out that they were not even at India Gate when the constable suffered the fatal heart attack.

Somnath was due to argue on their behalf in the Delhi High Court today. Instead, he is now looking to put the HSR Layout police in a spot of bother. The advocate believes that Loknath was ill-treated at the HSR Layout police station just to divert attention from the Tomar case. "My brother is innocent," Somnath averred.

The complaint he lodged under various IPC sections including 304, 326, 331, 340, 506(b) and 120(b) mentions that "Four police officers from the police station arrested Loknath Bharti around 11 am and forcibly drove him to the police station."

On Jan 13, Loknath was released on bail. Afterwards, he told newspersons that the cops got upset on his querying the reason for arrest and started beating him. "They then dragged me to one of the cells and handcuffed me to the bars of the lockup," he said. "Three policemen hit me on my genitals with sticks and when I shouted for help they shoved a sock in my mouth," Loknath added.

The HSR Layout police denied the charge and said that they picked him up only after Ravinder Aneja, owner of the paying guest accommodation where he stays, complained about Loknath threatening his cook Govind with a knife on Jan 7.

Yesterday, activists of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party staged a protest here and demanded a probe into the alleged torture. Additional Commissioner (Law and Order) T Suneel Kumar promised them that "Action will be taken after conducting an inquiry against the accused four HSR Layout police station police personnel."

OneIndia News