Woman claims city cops made her strip in front of her son

NEW DELHI: A 30-year-old woman has alleged that cops at a west Delhi police post forced her to strip in the presence of her minor son and demanded that she had sex with him, all because the 12-year-old boy had been accused of stealing money from a car.

Mayuri, a resident of Mayapuri slum cluster, claimed that police officers and a woman constable were present at the post when the incident took place. She has lodged a written complaint with the police commissioner. The area DCP, Sharad Aggarwal, has order an inquiry into the incident. The local police deny the charge and say the boy was a member of the thak-thak gang that targets cars at traffic lights and was taken into custody in a burglary case.

Mayuri and her 45-year-old husband Satish (all names changed) said they learned on May 22 that both their sons, Raju (12) and Ramesh (10) had been detained by the police. When they went to the police, the cops allegedly abused them though they met the boys in police custody. The couple returned the next day to try and get the sons freed. That's when the real ordeal began, the family claims.

Said Mayuri, "After confining us to one room, one of the constables took my husband and younger son out of the room and locked it from inside. Then they started questioning me and Raju about the stolen goods, asking us to return Rs 6,000 which they alleged my son had stolen from a women's car."

When the duo denied the charge, a constable allegedly asked the woman to strip. "When I refused, the constable started beating me with his lathi and forced me to take my clothes off," said Mayuri.

According to the victim, the torture didn't end there. "One of the cops stepped up and asked me to have sex with my son. Both of us started crying and I begged them to let us go. Then one of the constables asked me to have sex with him instead. We begged for our life. Finally, after about one or two hours, they released us," she said.

An NGO, which heard about the incident from Mayuri's neighbours contacted the family and asked them to file a complaint with the police commissioner.

The west district police, however, refuses to buy the allegations. "We took suo motu action after we received the complaint. If we wanted, we could have hushed up the case. However, we have decided for a full investigation of the incident," said a senior district officer.

Talking to TOI, DCP Aggarwal said that the ACP (Rajouri Garden) had been asked to investigate the incident. "We have recorded the statement of both the son and his mother. We are questioning the cops on duty too. A final report will be put up soon. No case has been registered so far," said Aggarwal.

The cops said they were investigating if there was any "verbal exchange" of words. "Though such an allegation seems absurd, extreme verbal abuse by the policemen on duty could have taken place. We will need to establish if such statements were uttered at the police post though prima facie the act of stripping seems improbable. The woman has levelled these charges to protect her son," said an officer overseeing the investigations. The police have also denied allegations that they had bribed the family to withdraw their complaint.