Gurgaon: Stating that it was “liable for the wrongs committed by its officers”, the Haryana Human Rights Commission ( HHRC ) has asked the state government to pay Rs 15,000 each to two persons for alleged atrocities committed by police in a four-year-old case.The victims were allegedly taken into “illegal preventive custody” and disrobed by the accused police officers in Sonepat in 2015. Bali Singh Saini and his two sons had thrashed Sanjeev Kumar to prevent the latter from deposing against them in a case on February 8, 2015.All of them are residents of Gohana, Sonepat. Kumar, who belongs to a scheduled caste, was an eyewitness in a case against Saini and was due to give his statement in the court the next day against Saini and his sons.Kumar approached Sonepat police in the matter, but inspector Satyender Kumar, then SHO of Gohana city police station, and assistant sub-inspector Dayanand allegedly put pressure on him to withdraw the complaint . Kumar appealed for aid, and Suresh, the former vice-president of Gohana Municipal Committee, and his brother Balraj, along with other locals, visited the police station seeking the registration of an FIR against Saini. Instead of registering the FIR, however, the SHO allegedly took the brothers Suresh and Balraj into preventive arrest and thrashed and disrobed them in the police lock-up.After they were released, Suresh filed a complaint at the CM Window. A fortnight later, police registered a FIR in Kumar’s case. The matter was probed by two deputy superintendents of police (DSPs), but they too allegedly compiled a biased report favouring Saini and the local police officers. Suresh then approached the HHRC. The commission observed that the alleged delay in registration of a FIR under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and improper investigation by a DSP-rank officer was a serious matter.The two police officers, however, defended themselves saying the complainant and his brother created a ruckus in the police station and tried to put pressure on them to register a false case against Saini.In a 15-page-order issued in Gurgaon on Wednesday, HHRC chairperson Justice Satish Kumar Mittal and member Deep Bhatia observed the “act of the police was totally illegal and clearly in violation of human rights of the citizens for which both the officers...are equally responsible”.The order said the government, after paying the compensation, may recover the amount from guilty officers. The commission relied on photographs produced by Suresh which showed him and his brother Balraj standing semi-clad in the police station. “The commission also took into account statements by local residents that cops had registered a false case against Suresh and Balraj at the instance of Saini, beat them up and locked them in the police station lock up after disrobing them,” HHRC member Bhatia said.

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