Punjab cops arrested for forcing lawyer into sex with co-accused

Chandigarh: A superintendent of police and two other policemen from Punjab's Muktsar district were arrested today after an advocate and another man alleged torture in custody, a senior officer said.

Under the chairmanship of Ludhiana Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu, a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to investigate the allegation, he said.

The SIT will be supervised by Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) Jaskaran Singh and will have three other policemen as members.

The action came after a meeting of a delegation of the Bar Association of the Punjab and Haryana High Court with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Chandigarh.

On Monday, six policemen, including an SP-rank officer, were charged for allegedly torturing a lawyer in their custody, which included forcing him into sex with a co-accused.

The case was registered against Muktsar SP (Investigation) Ramandeep Singh Bhullar, Inspector Raman Kumar Kamboj, constables Harbans Singh, Bhupinder Singh, and Gurpreet Singh, and home guard Dara Singh.

SP Bhullar, Inspector Raman Kumar Kamboj, and Constable Harbans Singh have been arrested.

The SIT will investigate the allegations of custodial torture by the lawyer and submit its report to Punjab's Director Bureau of Investigation.

Since Tuesday, when the torture allegations were first reported, lawyers affiliated with the Bar Association of Punjab and Haryana High Court have been boycotting work in solidarity with their colleagues, demanding the policemen's dismissal and arrest.

The advocate was arrested on September 14 with another man based on a complaint by the Crime Investigation Agency in-charge Raman Kumar Kamboj in which he alleged that the lawyers assaulted a police team and tore some officers' uniforms.

The Muktsar Chief Judicial Magistrate in an order on September 22 directed the police to register a case against the policemen on the basis of the advocate's statement.

"The statement of the victim is treated as complaint as per Section 2 (D) of the Criminal Procedure Code, in which prima facie cognizable offences of abetment of unnatural sex and causing injuries in wrongful confinement, causing threat to his life and liberty, shown," the court said in its order.

The policemen were charged under several Sections of the Indian Penal Code for unnatural sex, wrongful confinement, and criminal intimidation.

PTI with superficial edits