MUMBAI: The state human rights commission, MSHRC, has directed the DGP to register an FIR against over 15 Pune police officers, ranging from the commissioner to a constable, for allegedly illegally detaining eight minors in a murder case for five days and assaulting them in public.A senior Pune police officer declined to comment, stating he had not seen the order, reports Vijay V Singh.MSHRC has also recommended invoking provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the officers concerned, as four of the minors belonged to the SC/ST communities. The directive follows a report from an MSHRC fact-finding team, which included a special IGP.Right body flags public parading of detained minors in PuneThe minors, some of whom surrendered before the police in a murder case, were allegedly kept in illegal custody in a police station for five days and subjected to assault after being paraded in public. When one of their family members challenged the detention, the minors were produced before the juvenile justice board.MSHRC chairperson Justice (retd) A M Badar, and members Justice (retd) Swapna Joshi and IPS (retd) Sanjay Kumar, noted that “both parts of the report of fact-finding inquiry along with its annexures be treated as the FIR as envisaged by Section 173 of BNSS, 2023 and for completion of consequential investigation expeditiously.”Earlier, MSHRC had formed a fact-finding team consisting of Datta Karale (special inspector general of police), Vijay Kedar (registrar) and Viswas Pandhare (SP) posted at MSHRC to look into the incident.The committee recorded the statements of the affected parties, examined the spot, CCTV footage and the police case diary to conclude that human rights violations were committed.
