NHRC notice to T'gana police chief over 'torture' of villagers

The NHRC has sent a notice to Telangana police chief over reports of alleged illegal detention and "torture" of people belonging to the Scheduled Caste and other backward communities of a village.
The National Human Rights Commission today said the state Director General of Police has been directed to conduct a fair an independent inquiry in the matter and submit a report within four weeks.
The NHRC observed that the allegations raise a serious issue of human rights violation of the victims, who belonged to Nerela village in Siricilla Rajanna district.
The local police allegedly never acted on the complaints of villagers regarding "innumerable deaths" caused by the speeding lorries of sand contractors. They are notorious for overloading lorries and driving them at a high speed disregarding the safety and security of the villagers, the human rights body said.

Reportedly, on July 2, a lorry of a sand contractor ran over a person belonging to the Scheduled Tribe. Angry villagers set ablaze two lorries following which, the "police indiscriminately picked up at least eight persons and brutally tortured them for four days" before producing them before a judicial magistrate on July 8 under serious offences, it said.
Allegedly, the men were threatened that their women will also be booked under heinous offences, if they lodged any complaints about the torture meted out to them, the NHRC said.