Cops Beat 5 Children Inside Police Station: Rights' Panel Seeks Action

The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights directed authorities to suspend personnel allegedly involved in beating up five children detained by the Mumbai Police on suspicion of theft.

The five children, accused of stealing Rs 63,000 from a woman's purse, were hit inside the police station, their parents claimed. A complaint was also submitted to the Child Welfare Committee that a 15-year-old boy was kept in police custody overnight.

In a release issued on Monday, the MSCPCR said its chairperson Susieben Shah has written to Maharashtra Additional Director General of Police Deepak Pandey to appoint a committee under a deputy commissioner of police (DCP) rank officer to probe such cases.

The committee must submit a report within 15 days on how the children's rights were violated by the police while handling the case, the release quoted Susieben Shah as saying.

A meeting was held on March 19 by the MSCPCR, which was attended by Deepak Pandey, Shivajinagar police station officials, and the parents of the children, among others, it said.

"The commission ordered action against the guilty policemen in the case. Upon medical examination of these children, fresh marks of beating like abrasions and blunt trauma were found," Susieben Shah said.

Stringent directions have been given to suspend the police personnel involved until the probe is over, the MSCPCR release said.

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