Parliament breach accused to court: Given shocks, coerced to sign blank papers

The accused individuals arrested in connection with the Parliament security breach incident in December have levelled serious allegations torture and coercion against the Delhi Police Special Cell. 

The accused persons have stated that they were subjected to torture and coercion to confess to crimes and to take the name of political parties.

The six accused identified as Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D, Amol Shinde, Neelam Azad, Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat, were arrested in December. 

All the accused were kept in the custody of the Delhi Police Special Cell until they were sent to judicial custody earlier this month.

Each accused has stated that they were allegedly coerced into signing approximately 70 blank pages at various intervals.

The accused individuals claim they were subjected to torture and electric shocks to extract confessions, particularly under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and to claim association with political parties.

Two accused were allegedly pressured into naming political parties or leaders during tests such as polygraph, narco, or brain mapping.

The accused individuals also said that they were made to disclose their current and previous mobile numbers and were compelled to visit telecom offices “for issuance of SIM cards of old mobile numbers and current SIM card numbers for the reasons best known to the prosecution”

The accused were also allegedly forced to provide biometric data and passwords for their online social media accounts, email accounts, and phones for this.

Two of them, Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D, had jumped from the public gallery of Lok Sabha into the area where MPs sit. While chaos ensued in Lok Sabha, two others, Neelam Azad and Amol Shinde, sprayed coloured gas from cannisters and shouted slogans outside Parliament premises.

During a hearing at Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Wednesday, all accused except Neelam Azam filed an application alleging coercion by the police. The court has subsequently sought a response from the Delhi Police Special Cell and scheduled a hearing for February 17.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s Patiala House Court today remanded six accused identified as Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Lalit Jha, Amol Shinde, Mahesh Kumawat, and Neelam Azad, to judicial custody until March 1.