'They handcuffed me and beat me with iron rods'

SONARPUR: The owner and two employees of a sheltercum-rehabilitation centre for drug addicts and alcoholics in

Sonarpur

were arrested late on Monday following allegations of torture of inmates.

Inmates of

Jiban Jyoti Foundation Centre

had regularly complained of torture, but matters came to a head after the parents of a 22-yearold inmate lodged a police complaint alleging that their son had been handcuffed and badly beaten up by the authorities. The cops raided the shelter and recovered handcuffs, iron rods and sticks.The owner, Dipankar Roy, initially denied the allegations, but he admitted later during questioning that they had slapped the 22-year-old for alleged theft.

The youth, being treated at the rehab for about a year, managed to alert his parents at their Kasba home about his ordeal despite strict vigilance by the authorities, his parents said. “After hearing my son's plea for help and rescue on Sunday night, my husband and I reached the shelter the next morning and found that he had injury marks all over his body. 'They handcuffed me and beat me up with iron rods,' he sobbed to me. I learnt from my son that most other inmates were also similarly tortured,“ his mother said.

His parents rushed to Ba ruipur SDPO Arko Banerjee.Banerjee directed

IC Sonarpur Paresh Ray

to raid the shelter. “The team found handcuffs, iron rods and sticks. The evidence matched the allegations. We detained owner Dipankar Roy and two staff members. The 22-year-old undwerwent a medical check-up, which confirmed torture. The detained trio were taken into custody and charged under Section 341 IPC,“ said the SDPO.

The IC ordered his men to go around Sonarpur with a microphone, asking families of all inmates of the home to take their kin away from it.

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