Palakkad: The Kerala State Human Rights Commission has ordered a probe into the arrest of a more than eighty-year-old lady by the police in a case of mistaken identity. She had to endure four years of legal case and court visits to prove her innocence. The Commission has ordered that the State police chief to probe into the case.
The Acting Chairperson and Judicial Member of Human Rights Commission, K Byjunath ordered that the State Police Chief must investigate the complaint and submit a report within a month.
The case will be considered by the Commission in its sitting at Palakkad in September. The commission’s order comes after taking suo motto case on the basis of media reports.
The victim, Bharatiamma, has raised a complaint against police officers at the Palakkad Town South Station. She was arrested in a 1998 case for trespassing and breaking some items in a house.
The actual accused in the case had got out on bail, earlier, and went into hiding. The original accused name is Bharati and she had wrongly given Bharatiamma’s address at the police station.
The police on the basis of the wrong address given by the original accused reached Bharatiamma’s house in 2019 and arrested her. Even though she protested against the police, it was no use. The police did not bother to verify if the elderly lady was telling the truth or not.
Bharatiamma was finally released from the case only when the complainant in the 1998 case realized that she is not the actual accused and gave a statement in court in favor of Bharatiamma.
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