Tortured by cops, Bangalore youth fights for life

TORTURED WITHOUT REASON: Arun tried to help his boss's wife and paid for it.

J & K | Chhattisgarh | Delhi | MP |
Mizoram | Rajasthan

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

26/11: Terror comes precariously close

Featured Slideshows

Bangalore: A driving instructor became the victim of physical and mental torture allegedly at the hands of Bangalore police and has now lost his mental balance.

Nineteen-year-old Arun Kumar’s problems began when he tried to help his proprietor Anand’s wife, who reportedly complained to him that her husband was torturing her.

Arun, with his parents’ consent, arranged for her stay at his relative's house.

Anand then filed a complaint at the J P Nagar police station alleging that Arun had stolen Rs 20,000 from him.

Arun was picked up by the police and allegedly tortured. He suffered severe head injuries.

"I just wish that no parent endures what we have gone through. This is injustice, " says Arun's father Raju Thankachan.

Unable to bear the humiliation, Arun tried to commit suicide by consuming poison.

He was in coma for three months but survived and has been on life-support system since. Kumar's parents had to sell their house to meet the medical expenses.

The family has approached the State Human Rights Commission and rights activists have taken up the issue. "We are right now trying to mobilise funds for Arun's treatment, we will also put pressure on the government so that Arun gets justice," says Executive Director, South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM), Ashok Mathews Philip.

Bangalore police say they are conducting a departmental enquiry into the alleged torture and assure justice will be done.