‘Used string, tap to hang’: India police after man dies in lockup

The death of a young man in police custody in the state of Uttar Pradesh and subsequent clarification by the police sparked outrage.

The death of a Muslim youth in police custody in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and subsequent police explanation has sparked outrage in India.

22-year-old Mohammad Altaf hanged himself after going to the toilet at a police station in Kasganj district of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, ruled by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), police said on Wednesday.

A picture showing Altaf hanging from a water pipe in the washroom went viral on social media.

Police lock-up washroom in UP’s Kasganj where 21-year-old Altaf allegedly hanged himself from a tap using a hood drawstring. pic.twitter.com/tLYWC9zYhX

— Piyush Rai (@banarasia) November 10, 2021

Altaf, a resident of Ahroli village in Kasganj, was taken into police custody on Tuesday morning in connection with the alleged abduction of a minor Hindu girl.

Police say that during interrogation, he asked him to go to the washroom, where he hanged himself from a water tap with a string of his jacket.

“During the investigation, he” [Altaf] Asked the police if he needed to use the washroom. Kasganj Superintendent of Police Rohan Pramod Botre said, he was taken to the lock-up washroom, where he hanged himself from a tap using the drawstring of his jacket hood.

The Times of India newspaper reported on Thursday that Altaf was about 5 feet 6 inches (167 cm) tall and that the water pipe was less than three feet (91.4 cm) off the ground.

Five police officers have been suspended for negligence in the matter and the police said that it is investigating the incident.

But Altaf’s family has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into his death.

“I am an illiterate person. I don’t know anything about what happened to my son in police custody,” Altaf’s father Chand Miyan told Al Jazeera. He added, “My only demand is that justice be given to us.” There should be a CBI inquiry into the incident.”

On Wednesday, Mian told reporters that he himself had handed over his son to the police and he came to know about his son’s death only through media correspondents.

It’s Altaf. He was only 21 years old.

He was taken into custody and found dead within 24 hours. Police claim he killed himself – a possible cover-up for the murder.

his crime? being muslim #India, pic.twitter.com/sl7PIE0Zzt

— Khalid Baydoun (@Khalid Baydoun) November 10, 2021

Rights activists and opposition parties have questioned the police theory behind Altaf’s death.

“This is clearly a custodial death. And the custodial deaths should be prima facie treated as custodial killings. Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) member Kavita Krishnan told Al Jazeera that the police had the responsibility of proving that.” But it should have been that it was not murder but suicide.

Krishnan said suspending the local police officers is not enough and action should be taken against senior police officers in Kasganj.

“Uttar Pradesh Police is known for suspending people and later promoting them and sending them to other courts so that doesn’t really make sense. Simply suspending the local police is not enough. There is a chain of command responsibility here so senior police officers in-charge of the district should be punished.”

Uttar Pradesh’s main opposition party, the Samajwadi Party, attacked the BJP government over another “misdeed” by the state’s “trigger-happy police”.

“The guilty policemen should face the murder case and should be punished,” the party said in a statement.

Many on Indian social media used hashtags like #UP_police_murdered_Altaf and #WeDemandJusticeForAltaf to vent their anger over the incident.

Earlier this year, India’s home ministry told the Indian parliament that 348 people had died in police custody and 5,221 in judicial custody over the past three years.

In the same period, 23 people died in police custody and 1,295 in judicial custody in Uttar Pradesh.