21-year-old ends life, kin moves HC against police

Mumbai: Pushpa Jagtap, mother of the 22-year-old youngster who committed suicide on August 23, has filed a writ petition in the Bombay high court alleging harassment by the officials of Titwala police station that forced her son to commit suicide at their residence.

In the petition, the mother alleged that even though her son did not commit any crime, four police officials threatened him of being incriminated in a bike theft case, which pushed him to take the drastic step of ending his life.

According to the petition, the youngster Mitesh Jagtap while returning home on August 20 had experienced some problems with his motorcycle and hence had to wait on the road for a mechanic. While he was waiting, a team of patrolling police officials saw Mitesh and quizzed him about the bike, alleging that it was stolen. However, after Mitesh’s father came and showed them the original documents, they left, asking him to come to the police station the next day.

Elaborating on the circumstances that played out at the police station the next day and the day after, advocate Tanveer Nizam who filed the petition said that the police first threatened Mitesh, then beat him up and also spoke ill about his mother, resulting in the youngster becoming tensed and fearful.

“The sustained atrocities by the Titwala police officials over two days led to Mitesh taking the extreme step of committing suicide. The petition has prayed for justice to the deceased and action against the four police officials who were directly involved in abetting the suicide,” said Nizam. The petition is expected to come up for hearing on Tuesday he added.