Rahul Gandhi raises question around human rights conditions in UP

A 22-year-old man called for questioning in a kidnapping case died at Kasganj police station Tuesday, with his family members alleging that he was killed by police personnel.

The police, however, claimed that Altaf had strangulated himself using a string of his jacket’s hood in the washroom of a lock-up.

Five policemen have been suspended for negligence in the wake of the incident, they said.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the law and order situation in UP was “very bad”.

“It is clear from incidents like the death of Altaf in Kasganj, Arun Valmiki in Agra, Rajesh Kori in Sultanpur in police custody that the protectors have become devourers. UP tops the country in terms of police custodial death. The law and order situation is in complete disarray under the BJP rule. No one is safe here,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

Narrating the sequence of events, Kasganj’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Rohan Pramod Botre said on Wednesday: “One Altaf (of Nagla Syed locality) was called for questioning in Kasganj police station in a case related to IPC section 363 (kidnapping) and 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her marriage) on Tuesday morning.

“During interrogation, he requested the policemen to let him go to the washroom and was allowed to use the washroom inside the lockup,” the SP said.

“He was wearing a black jacket. He tried to strangulate himself with a string of the (jacket’s) hood that he tied to the tap of the toilet. When he did not return, the policemen went inside and found him unconscious. He was rushed to the community health centre in Ashok Nagar, where he died,” the SP said.

“The lax policemen will be punished. We have suspended five policemen in this connection,” he said.

The victim’s kin, however, have alleged that he was killed by the policemen.