Mumbai: Cops who beat teen for helmetless ride face FIR

MUMBAI: After months of being stonewalled by the police, a Class XII student who was riding without a helmet and was allegedly hit on the head with batons by cops during nakabandi can hope for justice. An FIR based on 18-year-old Satej Karambale's complaint would be lodged at Kherwadi police station, the state government told Bombay high court.


"My son was in the ICU for days and we spent close to Rs 1 lakh on his medical bills. He will have to take medicines for a year. He will also lose a year as he could not appear for his HSC examinations due to the incident," Satej's father Chandrakant Karambale told TOI.

A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre was hearing a petition filed by

Bandra

resident Chandrakant Karambale, seeking action against the police personnel who allegedly assaulted his son.

Additional public prosecutor Aruna Pai, on instructions from police inspector Sunil Kamble, told the court an FIR under appropriate IPC sections would be lodged. In the incident on on January 7, cops hit the student on the head and he fell unconscious.

‘Cops tried to suppress facts and made up lies’

Satej, a student of Chetana College, Bandra (E), was returning home when the Kherwadi police, who were conducting a nakabandi, stopped him for riding without a helmet. According to Satej, as he was bringing his motorbike to a halt just beyond the barriers, police constables lashed out at him with wooden batons. He was struck twice or thrice on his head and fell unconscious on the spot. The police rushed him to hospital.

Karambale, in his petition filed through his lawyer J Bardeskar, said he made many unsuccessful attempts to file a complaint against the police. He wrote to the police superiors to preserve CCTV footage from a State Bank of India branch located near the spot of the incident. Karambale said when he requested the police to return the bike, they turned it down, saying it was evidence in a crime committed by his son. "Thus it was evident that the police machinery was intending to protect their officers by not only suppressing the real facts of the case but also by creating a false and concocted story against the victim (Satej)," said the petition. Karambale said his young son's life had come to a standstill due to the actions of the police and urged the court to direct the police to lodge an FIR and investigate the case independently, free of any bias.

The police had denied the incident and claimed that Satej had fallen from his bike when he was stopped for

helmetless

riding and the fall had caused injuries to his head and bruises on his leg. At an earlier hearing, the court had directed the bank to preserve the CCTV footage.