Police officer charged for “assaulting” woman under detention

A police inspector and three of his junior personnel representing the Vijayanagar police station have been charged as an FIR was filed by a 42-year old woman against them for allegedly assaulting and harassing her when she was in their custody regarding a cheating case in 2019.

A resident of Vijayanagar Fourth Main, the complainant, addressed the issue to the city police commissioner, the deputy commissioner of police (west) and the state women’s commission. But, as she did not receive any response or support, she approached the court. The court issued the order directing the police to file a private complaint pertaining to the incident.

According to the court’s order, a private complaint has been filed against inspector Bharath, along with sub-inspector Santosh Kumar, lady sub-inspector Akshatha and head constable Lingaraju. The police personnel were charged with assault or usage of criminal force with an intention to disrobe (345B), wrongful restraint (341), assault invoked by provocation (352), wrongful confinement (220), outraging the modesty of a woman (354) and criminal intimidation (506) of the IPC.

In her complaint, the woman stated that the police officer called her and her sons to visit the station on June 14, 2019 at 8.15 pm. Post that, she was taken into custody regarding a cheating case charged against her.The following day, the police subjected her before the court, and arrested her for 7 days to continue her interrogation. The woman alleged about the officer lying to the court on the day of her arrest.

She has mentioned that when she was in custody, she was continuously subjected to abuse, assault and issued threats. She was also forced to sign blank papers by the police. The officers also told her sons that she would be trapped into various false cases if she refrained from signing the papers or did not agree to what she was asked to do.

In her complaint, she has also blamed the officers for not considering her medical requirements when her health was down. The police, have refuted all the blames and allegations and mentioned that they only followed due procedure regarding handling her.

The cheating case was filed against her by an acquaintance, Sriram, on June 14, 2019, citing she took Rs. 45 lakh and assured him of a site, however, Sriram did not receive the site nor the money back.