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[27 September 2007] - The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by a reliable source and by Antenna International, a member of SOS-Torture network, of the illegal detention and torture of Mithun Majhi alias Barkha, a 17 year-old boy, by several police officials at the Narkeldanga Police Station, West Bengal, India. According to the information received, during the evening of 11 September 2007, Mithun Majhi Barkha was apprehended by the police in Sambhu Babu’s factory after he had been brought there by some locals who accused him of having taken part in the theft of iron rods from the said factory. On being brought to the factory, he was beaten by the owner, Mr. Sambhu Babu. The police officials then took him to the lock up of the Narkeldanga police station. During the hours following his arrest, Mithun was subjected to torture such as beatings with a baton on his legs by several police officers from the Narkeldanga police station. Of these officers, two have been identified: Lopsang Tshering Bhutia and Bikram Chakraborty. The repeated beatings left bruises on Mithun’s body. Mr. Nur Hasan Khan, alias Kallu, (about 20 years old), who had been arrested on the morning of the same day and brought to the Narkeldanga police station witnessed Mithun’s condition after being beaten and indicated that he was limping. While in police custody, Mr Khan had also been tortured, in this case by the administration of electric shocks. On 12 September, after being informed by a police agent, Mrs. Satyami Das, Mithun’s grand-mother, visited her grandson in the police station and witnessed his weak physical state. Complaint threat However, when she decided to lodge a complaint concerning the injuries suffered by her grandson, the inquiry officer threatened her by arguing that if she complained, the police would implicate Mithun in a false case of trafficking narcotic substances. He added that if she wanted to ensure her grandson’s release, she would have to pay Rs 40´000. Later that day, Mrs. Satyami Das saw Mithun lying on the floor. When she came back on the following day - 13 September – she was able to understand, by hand gestures, that he had received some food, but that he had not yet been brought before a court. Satyami Das returned to the police station on 17 September, at which point she was told that until her grandson’s accomplices were arrested, Mithun would remain in custody and would not be permitted to be heard before a court. On 20 September, an application complaining of Mithun’s illegal detention was filed by Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) on behalf of the victim, and sent to the Police Commissioner of Kolkata Police, the Home Department and the National Human Rights Commission. On 22 September, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) of Sealdah charged Mithun with committing theft. He refused to remand Mithun on bail, and instructed that he be kept in police custody until 25 September for further investigation. This decision was largely based on a false memo of arrest produced by police officials of the Narkeldanga police station. This memo stated that the arrest was carried out on 21 September 2007, 10 days after the actual arrest. Mithun was not present during the hearing but represented by a MASUM staff member. Furthermore, on 25 September, the ACJM, Sealdah decided to keep Mithun remanded in custody at the Narkeldanga police station for another three days, that is. until 28 September 2007. As of today, Mithun remains in police custody at the Narkeldanga police station and is therefore at risk of further torture and ill-treatment. Since entering the Narkeldanga police station on 11 September Mithun has never been examined by a doctor. Moreover, officers from Narkeldanga police station have threatened both Mithun and his family, saying that he will not be released because he informed a human rights group of his situation. The law It should be emphasised that, aside from the acts of torture perpetrated against him, Mithun’s continuing detention in police custody is clearly illegal because, according to the Indian Constitution, no person can be detained more than 24 hours in police custody without appearing before a competent magistrate. Finally, OMCT is particularly concerned about the fact that Mithun is 17 years old and is legally a child both under international and national law and should be treated accordingly. Indeed, with regard to the treatment of children involved in the penal system, the Committee on the Rights of the Child recently reminded “States Parties [including India] that they have recognised the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognised as having infringed the penal law to be treated in accordance with the provisions of article 40 [of the Convention on the Rights of the Child]. This means that every person under the age of 18 years at the time of the alleged commission of an offence must be treated under the rules of juvenile justice” (General Comment n°10 (2007), Children’s rights in juvenile justice, CRC/C/GC/10, 9 February 2007, paragraph 21). Moreover, according to the Indian Juvenile Justice Act 2000, a 17 year-old person should not appear before a regular criminal court (such as the court presided over by ACJM Sealdah that decided to keep Mithun in remand), but before a Juvenile Board. Furthermore, Mithun should have been kept in a sheltered home for children and not in a police lock up. Further information