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| Was Rajneesh taken to a magistrate while in custody? | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
JAMMU, October 12, 2009:
Rajneesh (alias Rajesh) Sharma was subjected to severe torture while in custody at Ram Munshi Bagh police station in Srinagar. There were burn marks on the body, obviously inflicted by his tormentors.
What methods were used to inflict burn injuries on him while he was alive?
It is not clear whether the burn marks were due to (a) electric shocks or (b) lighted cigarettes?
Forensic science laboratory (FSL) staff will find out now whether it was (a) or (b). A very good beginning has been made to confuse the issue.
What next?
Can burning of a suspect by cigarette butts be deemed acceptable?
Can burning of a suspect by electric shocks be deemed acceptable?
As if one is better or worse off than the other.
As a layman, it is difficult to understand the logic of this cigarette butt versus electric shocks debate. But there must be some reason for the people investigating the case to be paying so much attention to this minute detail.
The issue, plain and simple, is the death of a young man in police custody. Truth about the circumstances in which the death occurred needs to be unrevelled.
Anything less than that will be less than just and fair. To the dead person, his family and the society at large.
History repeats itself, and if the truth is not brought out, somebody else will some day, in the near future, or far, die in this manner. Again.
Internet is a tool that gives answers instantly. Type out the question ``What is the temperature of a lighted cigarette?’’ in different search engines and you get some illuminating answers.
In one, the answer sends shudders down one’s spine.
A cigarette end, when lighted, but without drawing or inhaling, is touches 400 degees Celsius or 752 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the temperature at the side of the lit portion.
In the middle of the lit portion, the temperature touches 580 degrees Celsius or 1112 degrees Fahrenheit.
The temperature of the lit cigarette during drawing (or inhalation) climbs in the middle to touch 700 degrees Celsius or 1292 degrees Fahrenheit.
These were the results obtained by repeated scientific trials and can be considered accurate to within 50 degrees Celsius, according to a popular search engine.
Let us compare the temperature of the lighted cigarette to boiling water to form an idea about how deadly or injurious repeated burning by cigarette can be. Water starts boiling at 100 degrees Celsius. That means a cigarette butt is seven times hotter than boiling water!
A young man, a suspect picked up by the Srinagar police, has died under mysterious circumstances, following torture during investigations.
After his death, some policemen deployed at Ram Munshi Bagh police station have become suspects, for Rajneesh’s family now in mourning. How will they be questioned by their peers, if at all?
Incidentally, all accused persons are entitled to safeguards laid down by the Supreme Court. These safeguards are garishly painted on boards and walls of police stations throughout the nation. One such safeguard guaranteed under law is the production of an accused before a magistrate within 24 hours of his/her arrest.
When was Rajneesh picked up from Jammu? How long did it take for the police team to take him to Srinagar? Was he at any time during his incarceration ever produced before a magistrate, mandatory under law?
These are questions that can perhaps be the take-off point for the investigation into Rajneesh’s death if truth is to be found out.
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