The Human Rights Forum (HRF) demands that the police personnel from multiple stations involved in the custodial torture of V. Samson of Morusumilli village in Mylavaram mandal in NTR district be suspended immediately and that they be booked under the relevant sections of the BNS and the SC/ST (PoA) Act, and adequate compensation be paid to Samson.
Following the news of illegal arrest, confinement, and custodial torture of Challa Subba Rao and Vadlapudi Samson, a Dalit, both of Morusumilli, a two-member HRF team visited the village on February 15 and spoke to the family members, victims, villagers and the police of the Mylavaram station. The following facts emerged from our fact-finding.
A person, named Kadiyam Srinivasa Rao from Mulakalapenta, a neighboring village of Morusumilli, was found dead in his field on February 8, 2025. Following a complaint made by his son, Kadiyam Pulla Rao, who suspected land disputes between his father and Challa Subba Rao, a neighboring farmer, behind the death, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed on February 9. The FIR named Subba Rao as A1 and Vadlapudi Samson, who worked as a farm hand for Subba Rao, as A2 in the case.
While the FIR was filed on February 9, Subba Rao and Samson were picked from their homes on the evening of the 8th, the first blatant illegality in the sordid saga. Rather than taking them to the Mylavaram police station where there are CCTV cameras, they were moved to the Mylavaram Circle Inspector (CI) office where there are none.
Both were locked up in two separate chambers. While Subba Rao refused to accept the charges and made clear his innocence, Samson, under the threat of custodial violence, allegedly confessed to the police that he did indeed murder Srinivasa Rao. It is not clear whether he made the alleged confession before or after he was subjected to torture.
The next day, i.e., February 9, Samson was taken to the scene of offence to recover the supposed murder weapon. Sniffer dogs, too, were engaged to locate them. Samson, under the intimidating presence of police personnel from multiple stations, dithered and blurted out random names of people supposedly involved in the plot. The police, upon investigating these people, drew a blank. Enraged, the police stripped him naked, with just his shirt to cover his loins, tied him up to a mango tree, and trashed him all over the body. The police, only after inflicting such violence, realized that the duo had no role in the death of Srinivasa Rao. A Dalit villager, Saggurthi Ashok, who questioned the police about the search operation, too, was roughed up.
The police, meanwhile, continued their investigation and, on February 14, declared that the alleged perpetrator was, in fact, the son of the deceased – the complainant in the case. It was only after this declaration that Subba Rao and Samson were let go from the illegal confinement. Both were confined in the CI office from the night of February 8 to the night of February 14, a total of 6 days, without even bothering to produce them before a magistrate and seeking police custody.
This entire saga is replete with flagrant illegalities. Both were taken into custody, without declaring arrest, even before the FIR was filed, they were confined illegally for 6 days, and one among them was brutally tortured in police custody. The police, while not denying this, justified it by saying that they had, in fact, saved Samson by identifying the actual alleged perpetrator even after Samson’s alleged confession, at which point they could have remanded him and washed their hands off.
The police, in a self-congratulatory press note after the arrest of Pulla Rao, went on to say that after they had investigated him “in their unique way” he sang like a canary. Apart from their supposed unique way, there was no mention of Subba Rao and Samson episode in their narrative. A point to be noted here is that neither the Constitution of the country nor the law of the land granted unique way of investigation to the police. They, too, how much ever they might dislike it, must follow the Constitution and laws of the land. Perhaps, they would find it worth a read to peruse Article 22 of the Indian Constitution, section 57 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Surakshan Sanhita (BNSS) and various judgments of the judiciary.
HRF demands that the police personnel involved in the torture episode be identified, suspended, and be charged under section 120 (2) and 258 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), section 3 (1) (e), 3(1) (p), 3 (2) (v) and 3 (2) (vii) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. We also demand that the government adequately compensate Samson for the torture he was subjected to by the police.
Y. Rajesh (HRF Andhra Pradesh State general secretary)
G. Rohith (HRF Andhra Pradesh State secretary)
16.02.2025,
Vijayawada.