FIR against police officer accused of assaulting minor

KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 4 : The District Child Protection Unit of Kohima (DCPU) has lodged an FIR against a duty officer who has been accused of assaulting a minor. The minor was reportedly wrongly implicated in a theft case. He was allegedly assaulted by an alleged drunken duty officer, of North Police Station, on October 25. The DCPU lodged the FIR against the officer and the complainant on November 3. Confirming this to Eastern Mirror, DCPU officer Povezo said the department was undertaking a routine ‘duty’ of lodging the FIR keeping in mind the interest of the minor. He said the unit also received directives from the higher-up to lodge an FIR. To the query about progress into the case by the police department, SP Kohima Joseph Hesso told this correspondent that the authorities had ‘registered the case as soon as the FIR was filed’ yesterday. Hesso also said the department had started investigations. At the time of this news report going to press, he was yet to receive the ‘enquiry report.’ Once the report was completed, he said, ‘appropriate action’ will be taken against the erring officer. A police personnel also said the accused officer was under suspension. Earlier, the police claimed of being unaware of the incident, or that the minor was kept in the lock up for the night and beaten up by the duty officer. The Nagaland Law Students’ Federation (NLSF) has termed the alleged assault of the minor ‘totally outrageous and unacceptable.’ The federation asserted that it would ‘crusade rigorously to pursue the case till justice was delivered to the victim and the erring officer punished according to law.’ A press release from the federation on Friday stated that the minor was, in spite of his innocence, brutally assaulted by a police officer ‘bereft of humanity and empathy.’ Its information and publicity secretary Roland Zeliang and general secretary Medochütuo Kiewhuo wondered ‘how a police officer was supposed to provide and ensure security when drunken during duty.’ Is it ‘service and security as per the police motto to trample him to rigorous torture?’ the note queried. “Juveniles are not training fields for interrogation,” the organisation stated and asserted that one cannot subject minors to cruelty and brutality. While pointing out that juveniles are to be produced under law to the juvenile justice boards at the earliest, the NLSF reminded that confinement in the lock up and even being ‘videographed’ while being verbally assaulted by the police officer was in total violation of the Juvenile Justice Act. “This is not the bygone era where vulture-in-police act as per their whims and caprice pouncing and scavenging on the dead and bypass laws. You cannot confront established law and as an enforcer. The police officers are to safeguard the people and not to act as kings...” Calling the incident a blatant violation of human rights, the NLSF said the incident was a serious case that must be ‘treated expeditiously and precisely.’ The group has expressed firm belief that the erring police officer would be under disciplinary action along with the officers who acted collaterally.