PANAJI: He normally visited his neighbour’s house to watch television. But on that fateful evening of January 12, 2015, he was made to suffer a lot. He was tied, stripped and beaten by members in the neighbour’s house after accusing him of stealing cash of Rs 10,000, which he denied. This happened in Mapusa. Town police were called and the boy was taken to the police station without informing his parents. He was later produced before the Juvenile Justice Board before being lodged at the Apna Ghar, the state-run protective home, as a child in conflict with law.
Based on a complaint filed by Suzana de Souza, coordinator for non-governmental organisation (NGO) Child line, the Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) Monday asked the state government to pay compensation of
Rs 5,000 to the juvenile tribal boy for gross negligence and carelessness shown by Mapusa police, who did not register a First Information Report (FIR) with regard to offences against the juvenile.
The GHRC, in its inquiry report, directed the chief secretary to pay the compensation amount to the victim within 30 days and ordered police inspector of Mapusa police station to register an FIR. It further asked the Director General of Police (DGP) to initiate disciplinary action against the defaulting police officials.
“Non-registration of FIR is a clear infringement of the fundamental right of the victim boy as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and also violates the basic human rights of the victim,” the order reads. Expressing displeasure over the manner in which police was handling the case, the human rights panel chaired by A D Salkar with member J A Keny stated, “We are satisfied that police have committed gross illegalities by not registering FIR against the persons who were involved in the offences against the juvenile and have also failed to comply with directives issued by apex court.”
Upon perusing the petition, the GHRC had sought a report from women’s police station, Mapusa police station and Superintendent of Police (North). The respondents filed separate replies denying the allegations made by the complainant. The police said that the victim’s father was informed before taking custody of his son to admit him in Apna Ghar.
“The conclusions drawn by the police are totally unwarranted an unjustified. The police have no powers to close the matter on the ground that there is no sufficient evidence against the accused involved in the matter once it is found that the complainant reveals cognizable offences,” the order reads.
The complainant had also filed a complaint at the Mapusa police station and women’s police station on January 20, 2015, stating all the facts and disclosing the offences of wrongful confinement and causing hurt to the juvenile. Women’s police station has been designated as the special juvenile police unit in the state. However, the inquiry conducted by then Mapusa police sub-inspector Harish Raut Desai and police inspector of women’s police station Sudiksha Naik could not proceed, as they found that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegation.
According to the complainant, the victim boy, on January 12, 2015, at 9 pm visited the house of owner Maria (Trinidade) at Cuchelim, where he usually went to watch TV. However, to his surprise, that evening the lights were on but nobody was in the house to answer his call. So the juvenile opened the door and sat in front of the TV and started listening to songs from his mobile phone.
The complainant further stated that suddenly three persons – Sonu, Raju and another man, who could not be identified by the boy, entered the room, tied up the boy’s hands, beat him up brutally and then stripped him for allegedly stealing cash of Rs 10,000. Later, the owner’s brother and the owner herself slapped the boy and called the police helpline number. Police came and slapped the boy and started inquiring about the stolen money. However, the boy was unaware of the cash that was missing and told them he had only Rs 50, which his father had given to him, which was also taken by Raju.
The complaint further states that the boy was then taken to the Mapusa police station and later Maria filed a complaint against the boy after which a case of house-breaking and theft was registered against the boy under Section 457 and Section 380 of IPC. The complaint states that this was neither explained to the boy nor to his parent. Later, he was taken for medical examination and produced before the Juvenile Justice Board as a case of child in conflict with law and lodged at Apna Ghar.