Accidental death: Gujarat capital cops 'beat up' tribal witness, impartial inquiry sought

By A Representative

The Majur Adhikar Manch (MAM), an Ahmedabad-based labour rights organization working among migrant workers, has alleged that cops of the state capital, Gandhinagar, have “beaten up” a tribal witness, who had been called to give statement in case of an accidental death. The tribal, Ter Singh, who is resident of village Margala, taluka Fatehpura, Dahod district, had to be taken to the Civil Hospital for a Medico Legal Report (MLR), MAM said.

An MAM communiqué said, Ter Singh was called by police to give statement in accidental death of a migrant tribal worker in Indroda village of Gandhinagar. Sangada Babubhai Somabhai from Fatehpura taluka of district Dahod was working as a loader in the tractor of Pankaj Thakor. His body was discovered in the village on August 14.
After the police was informed about this by Hansmukhbhai Makwana, a local municipal councilor, it filed a case of accidental death and began enquiries under Section 174 CrPC. Ter Singh, another worker in the same village, who claims to have witnessed the death, had gone back to home. He was called to give statement at the Infocity Police Station of Gandhinagar as witness in the case, MAM said.

On August 26, Ter Singh came to the police station with a team of MAM activists to give his statement. The police took the statement under camera inside the police station. “However, as it did not like what he was saying, he was beaten up severally in front of the municipal councilor and other influential persons in order to force him to retract his statement”, MAM asserted.
“MAM team took Ter Singh to the Civil Hospital and got MLR done. The MLR confirms beating by the police. We demands strict action against the guilty police personnel and demands an impartial inquiry into the suspicious death of Sangada Babubhai”, MAM said.

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