Calcutta HC division bench upholds single judge order transferring custodial torture case to CBI

Kolkata: A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday upheld an order of a single judge directing a CBI investigation into alleged torture of a woman in police custody after her arrest over protests against the rape and murder of a doctor of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The division bench presided by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam said that the order of the single bench for conducting an independent investigation cannot be faulted and does not call for any interference.

Dismissing the appeal made by the West Bengal government, the court directed the CBI to comply with the order of the single bench.

Two petitioners, both women, had moved the single bench alleging physical torture in police custody. The court had noted a report of a jail doctor who found signs of hematoma (solid swelling of clotted blood within tissue) on the legs of one of them.

On the prayer by the two petitioners, Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj had on October 8 directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegation of physical torture in police custody of one of them.

Hearing an appeal by the state government challenging the single bench order, the division bench, also comprising Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, said that after hearing both the state and the petitioner, it found that the order passed by the single judge was "just and proper" and does not call for any interference.

"The first and most startling fact which has greatly disturbed our mind is the discrepancy in the recording of the medical condition of the petitioner by two different authorities," the bench said.

Rama Das was arrested on September 7 and remained in the custody of Falta police station in Diamond Harbour police district till she was remanded to judicial custody by the Diamond Harbour court the next day, the court noted.

The division bench noted that while the report of the medical officer of Diamond Harbour sub-correctional home states hematoma in both legs of Das, the examining doctor of Diamond Harbour Medical College and Hospital recorded that there was no external injury on her.

Noting subsequent medical reports of the petitioner, the bench said that it is prima facie clear that the trauma occurred on her on September 7 while she was in police custody.

The court said that the discrepancies are serious and would warrant an independent agency to conduct the investigation.

The bench noted that as per the lower court's findings, the petitioners were not named in the FIR and that there was no direct allegation against them.

Their lawyer submitted that they were only present at a venue where certain offensive comments were allegedly made, over which the FIR was lodged.

Appearing for the West Bengal government, Advocate General Kishore Dutta claimed that no reason was recorded in the single bench order for transfer of the case to the CBI from the state police and claimed that the state did not have an opportunity to put forth its submissions in writing.

He claimed that there is nothing to indicate custodial torture of the petitioner warranting interference by the single bench of the high court and transferring the investigation to the CBI.

The petitioner's lawyer Subir Sanyal pointed to the findings of the doctor of the Diamond Harbour sub-correctional home and claimed that there was a clear discrepancy between his findings and that of the Diamond Harbour Medical College and Hospital.