E/CN.4/1991/17
page 25
confirmed those findings but did not order the State to pay compensation and
failed to take steps to prosecute the guilty police officers. The court left
it to the accused persons "to move the appropriate civil or criminal courts
for suitable action including compensation and criminal prosecution". Another
suspect, Jaggu Lakishman Chavan, who also belongs to the Pardhi tribe, was
arrested in Bombay on 14 February 1989 and died on 3 March 1989 in the Panvel
municipal hospital, while still in police custody, allegedly as a result of
injuries received under torture. According to the police Chavan died of an
"unidentified illness". But the 19 men arrested in the same case claimed that
he died as a result of severe police beatings, and some said they were present
when he was being tortured. But two doctors who carried out a post—mortem
examination said they did not find injuries on the body, although one of them
said he found the right hand to be bent. It was further reported that Kuljit
Singh Dhatt, from the village of Ambala Jattan, Hoshiapur District, was
arrested (on an unspecified date, probably in the second half of 1989), from
the home of Reeve Gurmail Singh in the village of Garrhi. It was alleged that
Kuljit Singh was taken to the Tanda Police Station where he was tortured with
an electromagnetic device known as garari. The device was allegedly applied
to his genitals by a Police Superintendent whose name was transmitted to the
Government, while other police constables were holding him. Kuljit Singh
reportedly died of a heart failure, allegedly as a result of the prolonged
torture to which he was subjected.
Indonesia
Urgent appeals and Government replies
79. On 2 May 1990 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the
Government of Indonesia concerning three East Timorese students: Fernad
Trindade, aged 17, Mario Trindade, aged 22, and Felizberto Mascarenhas,
aged 23, who were reportedly arrested by military police on 26 April 1990 in
Denpasar, Bali, and were allegedly subjected to torture.
80. On 1 June 1990 the Indonesian Government provided more details on the
circumstances of the arrest of the three aforementioned students, which
reportedly followed a fight with a West Timorese student. The three students
were released on 1 May 1990. It was affirmed that they had not been subjected
to torture or ill-treatment at any stage of the proceedings.
81. On 16 October 1990 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the
Government of Indonesia concerning Aleixo Laga, aged 22, a pupil at Sao Jose
Externato School in Dili, East Timor, who was arrested in that town on
11 September 1990. It was alleged that on the day of his arrest he was taken
to the Dili Police Office and kept in a water tank, and that since then he has
been subjected almost daily to torture. It was reported that his family had
recently been given permission to visit him and that they found him weak from
lack of food, and his face swollen and covered with cuts and bruises. Fears
were expressed that he may not be able to survive if torture and maltreatment
did not stop.
82. On 20 November 1990 the Government of Indonesia informed the Special
Rapporteur that Aleixo Laga was released after being questioned, on condition
that he reported regularly to the authorities, but he had never done so and
since his release his whereabouts had not been known. During the proceedings
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