Morcha ire on Darj police

Vivek Chhetri, Darjeeling, March 16: A 46-year-old woman from a Scheduled Tribe community who was allegedly assaulted by a police team on Sunday has been admitted to the Darjeeling district hospital.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has said the woman has sustained a fracture in her leg because of alleged police assault, but the hospital refused to speak about her injuries. The district chief medical officer of health also did not give details.

The Morcha has also said that if justice is not provided to the mother of three, they would write to the National Commission for Women and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribe, as the woman belongs to a Scheduled Tribe community.

Bina Lepcha had yesterday lodged a complaint with the Darjeeling Sadar police alleging that a police team led by Sanjay Chhetri, an assistant sub-inspector of police, had harassed her when the team had gone to their residence at Lapcha Busty, about 14km from here, to arrest her husband Dilip early on Sunday against a pending court warrant related to a 1994 case.

Dilip had managed to flee and Bina had alleged that the police tied her hands, hit her with a lathi three times, stamped on her leg and "dragged" her for about a kilometre.

The Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha, today also plastered posters in the town stating that they would call a strike in the hills if the administration failed to conduct a proper inquiry and if justice is not delivered within 24 hours.

A villager of Lepcha Busty, who did not want to be named, said: "The X-ray report was made available today and there is a fracture in Bina's left leg. The doctor has advised her to rest for one-and-a-half months."

The hospital authorities, have refused to speak about the injury. A. Biswas, the CMOH, said he was not aware of the details of the patient. "I cannot tell you the details as the superintendent of the hospital has not informed me."

S.P. Yadav, the additional superintendent of police, Darjeeling, today said: "There has been an allegation against an officer. An inquiry has been started and the officer has been closed to the Dali police line from the police station."