Police Integrity Commission has probed into the case of a group of policemen assaulting a youth at G.A Vilingili، reported last Saturday.
A group of policemen had apprehended the victim، a 19 year old male، from the island when he was on his way home with a friend after attending a Eid-Ul-Fitr celebration show، on the night 18th July، sometime before 00:00hrs. The policemen halted him and assaulted by hitting the victim’s face.
Policemen then cuffed the man، and put him in the police van which had drove up to the scene of incident shortly. The victim’s family claims that the policemen who apprehended the victim continued beating him inside the van، which was en route to police station.
The incident was reported to Police Integrity Commission yesterday، and a team of the department had reached the island sometime in the morning today. PIC officials dispatched to G.A. Vilingili have commenced investigation on the case.
“A team from PIC came today، and they had interviewed him [victim] about the incident” a source from the island spoke with Vaguthu Online.
The victim’s family claim that he was arrested for requesting from the officers “to speak in decent language” with him when the officers had cornered and attempted to assault him. His family had also stated that he was taken to police station، and the officers filed a report against him.
According to the victim’s family he was released from police station around 03:00hrs on 19th July.
In addition to this، both victim and his family claims that the officers had filed a false report، which had stated that he was apprehended on 19th July and was released after 26 hours in custody. However، he was arrested around 00:08hrs on 19th July، and the officers had taken him in the police van near the newly reclaimed land site، where he was beaten by officers to near unconsciousness before taking him back to Police station.
Meanwhile، members of the victim’s family had gathered near the police station to inquire about him.
The victim’s family state that a group of Vilingili Police Station officers had continued to harass the man، on various occasions. He had become a victim of the officers’ harassment due to him being an acquaintance of specific female from the same island. It is reported that one of the police officers have a “bad blood” relation with the said female، which is the prime reason for the assaulted man to become victimized.