People’s Watch, a human rights organisation, and the family of one of the victims of custodial violence case at Tirunelveli’s Ambasamudram police station held a press conference on Wednesday, April 5, demanding FIR against IPS officer Balveer Singh and other police personnels. The Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Ambasamudram Balveer Singh has been accused of beating detainees and breaking their teeth using large stones and cutting pliers.

The victim and his mother who were present at the press conference along with Henry Tiphagne, lawyer and founder of People’s Watch recounted the ordeals they had endured at the Ambasamudram police station.

During the press conference, Henry Tiphagne said that when the guilty persons in the custodial violence case are booked, they should also be booked for violating the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 because the police knew that the victim belonged to a Scheduled Caste even before he was detained.

He said, “When the victims and their mother file a complaint, an FIR has to be registered. Just transferring the police officers or placing them on wait lists will not be enough. What was the judicial magistrate doing? Could the magistrate not have called them separately and asked how they got these injuries?”