The New York Times :
As the protest broke up, Indian police officers in the town of Nagina chased a group of Muslim teenagers into an empty house. They grabbed them and took them to a makeshift jail. And then, the boys and community leaders said, the officers tortured them.
Four of the boys, who ranged in age from 13 to 17, said in interviews with The New York Times that police officers used wooden canes to beat them and threatened to kill them for taking part in demonstrations against a divisive citizenship law that has fuelled rallies and rioting across India. Three had obvious signs of deep bruising or other injuries.
Many Indians fear that the new law, which is seen as a huge political victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist base, is blatantly discriminatory toward Muslims and threatens the very foundation of India as a secular and tolerant nation.
In Uttar Pradesh, the northern Indian state where Nagina is and the one with the most Muslim residents, the rioting has been among the most intense, and the violent backlash from police has been the most deadly and troubling.
According to accounts by the detained boys in Nagina, along with family members and other officials in their town who spoke to them immediately after they were released, police officers over the course of 30 hours terrorised them and others who had been demonstrating Dec. 20.
Police officials in the town deny that any abuse happened or that minors had been detained at all around that time.
According to two of the boys, the officers laughed during beatings, saying, “You will die in this prison.”
“They were so scared that hardly anyone could speak,” said Khalil-ur-Rehman, a municipal officer in Nagina who met the children at a police station as soon as they were released Dec 22. “How do you justify detaining minors, let alone beating them black and blue?”
As Indian authorities struggle to contain the nationwide protests, more accounts are emerging of abuse meted out by police officers.
As the protest broke up, Indian police officers in the town of Nagina chased a group of Muslim teenagers into an empty house. They grabbed them and took them to a makeshift jail. And then, the boys and community leaders said, the officers tortured them.
Four of the boys, who ranged in age from 13 to 17, said in interviews with The New York Times that police officers used wooden canes to beat them and threatened to kill them for taking part in demonstrations against a divisive citizenship law that has fuelled rallies and rioting across India. Three had obvious signs of deep bruising or other injuries.
Many Indians fear that the new law, which is seen as a huge political victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist base, is blatantly discriminatory toward Muslims and threatens the very foundation of India as a secular and tolerant nation.
In Uttar Pradesh, the northern Indian state where Nagina is and the one with the most Muslim residents, the rioting has been among the most intense, and the violent backlash from police has been the most deadly and troubling.
According to accounts by the detained boys in Nagina, along with family members and other officials in their town who spoke to them immediately after they were released, police officers over the course of 30 hours terrorised them and others who had been demonstrating Dec. 20.
Police officials in the town deny that any abuse happened or that minors had been detained at all around that time.
According to two of the boys, the officers laughed during beatings, saying, “You will die in this prison.”
“They were so scared that hardly anyone could speak,” said Khalil-ur-Rehman, a municipal officer in Nagina who met the children at a police station as soon as they were released Dec 22. “How do you justify detaining minors, let alone beating them black and blue?”
As Indian authorities struggle to contain the nationwide protests, more accounts are emerging of abuse meted out by police officers.
