Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 3
Every word that he uttered was an effort, but still even with his legs cuffed and groans as he spoke, Tia Yimchunger, a suspected accused in the sensational killing of a seven member family in Kiphire district earlier this year gives an insight of police brutality on suspected criminals.
When The Morung Express met with the accused in the Dimapur Civil Hospital, Tia Yimchunger, on whose right hand the sentence ‘Jesus Help Me’ is clearly tattooed, said that he was a village guard in his village, Pungro. He said that he was on duty when the police team called him and arrested him. After spending a night at the Kiphire Police Thana, he was brought to Dimapur where he was subjected to tough interrogation for about half an hour.
Tia Yimchunger, while recollecting his night at a Police Station (he could not remember which one) said that the police personnel struck him with lathis on the soles of his feet. He alleged that the policemen even punched and kicked him. “Moi ki theng aro haat pare be mareshi” said Tia Yimchunger.
He alleged that the investigating officers accused him of having knowledge of where the other culprits must have gone on the fateful day or that he also was involved in the murder of the seven members of the family in Kiphire, and when he denied it they used to beat and torture him. However he said that he never admitted that he was involved in the murder or knew who did it.
He said that he told the policemen that he was a village guard, chosen not to kill family members of other villages but a village guard to maintain law and order in the village.
When asked about his condition to the nurses tending him, they said that his condition was not that serious. They disclosed that Tia Yimchunger had very few visitors and that they do not have enough medicines to administer to him. The nurses said that the OC of a police station (they could not say which police station) had bought some medicine for the suspect.
However, whatever the case might be, it may be mentioned that the police force not only in Nagaland but also in the whole of the country comes under constant attack for certain human rights violations when it comes to interrogating suspected criminals through use of first degree, second degree and third degree methods of torture. The Indian police force has been trained to use torture, and not evidence, as the best way of booking a criminal through his confession. No wonder, it is a common feature that most of the innocent suspected criminals are subjected to such torture leaving many invalid and traumatized for life.
