A force with teeth flexes muscles

It was an advocate who first exposed the torture suffered by suspects reportedly at the hands of Ambasamudram Assistant Superintendent of Police Balveer Singh. An officer of the Indian Police Service belonging to the 2020 batch, Mr. Singh took charge as the ASP of the Ambasamudram Sub-Division six months ago. The issue that the advocate brought up went viral the next day after a journalist tweeted videos of victims explaining their horrifying experience in police custody.

It was an advocate who first exposed the torture suffered by suspects reportedly at the hands of Ambasamudram Assistant Superintendent of Police Balveer Singh. An officer of the Indian Police Service belonging to the 2020 batch, Mr. Singh took charge as the ASP of the Ambasamudram Sub-Division six months ago. The issue that the advocate brought up went viral the next day after a journalist tweeted videos of victims explaining their horrifying experience in police custody.

After the allegations prompted sharp criticism from civil society, especially on social media, the young officer was shifted out without posting. However, amid growing demands for more stringent action and MLAs of different political parties flagging the issue in the Assembly, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced that he had ordered the suspension of Mr. Singh and further action would be taken on the basis of the inquiry report. The truth, or otherwise, of the allegations will come out from this investigation.

An inquiry was ordered, as is routine in all cases of torture or death in custody, into the allegations against Mr. Singh. His batch-mate Mohammed Shabbir Alam, IAS, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Sub-Collector of Cheranmahadevi, is the inquiry officer. There have been allegations that some of the victims are under pressure not to depose against the police officer.

While a few are standing firm in their allegations against Mr. Singh on the social media and are prepared to record their statements before the inquiry officer, a couple of suspected victims have retracted their statements.

It is alleged that the suspects taken to the Kallidaikurichi, Vikramasingapuram and Ambasamudram police stations on various charges in the recent weeks lost some teeth after the officer, who graduated from IIT Bombay, used a pair of pliers to remove them. This was in a case relating to a clash between two castes in the southern town. Taking suo motu cognizance of a report published by The Hindu, the State Human Rights Commission launched an investigation into the allegations.

The Ambasamudram case unfortunately is not the only instance of police excesses in the State. The Sattankulam father-son death, allegedly a case of custodial violence, which is under probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, is a sharp recent memory. There have been other incidents of death in custody and suspects who allegedly tried to assault the police having been fired at.

Even as the death of trader Jayaraj and his son Bennicks, due to the alleged third degree treatment at the Sattankulam police station in Thoothukudi district in June 2020, is haunting the force, the death of Vignesh, 25, due to the alleged torture at the Secretariat Colony police station in Chennai hit the headlines in April 2022.