Torture report: Panel member denied access to jail

While a forensics expert, sent by the minority panel, confirmed instances of torture and third-degree methods, lead representative of the AP State Minorities Commission, Advocate Commissioner Ravi Chander, was refused permission on Saturday to meet the detainees at Charlapally Prison to complete his report.

Minority commission is a statutory body, and questions are now being raised about the refusal by the state authorities.

Says Ravichander: “The state minorities commission has the powers of a civil court and I had the necessary permissions to enter. I even took fresh permissions the second time I went, but I was told to go talk to a minister this time around.”

In its report, accessed by The Indian Express, the committee says it “sees communal bias in the pattern of detentions/arrests made after the twin bomb blasts. There is sufficient evidence to believe that Muslim young men were picked up at random because they belonged to a particular religion.”

The report adds: “Boys were picked up and not permitted to inform at least one family member of their arrest (the police did not notify the families of the detainees either). They weren’t even produced in a court within 24 hours. On an average, the delay was for five days and there were signs of physical torture evident to the naked eye for days after.”

Endorsing the committee’s findings, Chander said: “We were able to substantiate and verify most of what the boys and their families told us.” Chander added that an official forensics expert, who confirmed instances of torture, accompanied the committee —civil society activists Nirmala Gopalakrishnan, K Anuradha and Mohammed Afzal — in its fact-finding mission.

“The expert, Dr Mahender Reddy, confirmed after examining signs of torture on the boys that they were subjected to third-degree methods, despite no evidence or...