Gurrudatt Prakash, 26, called Vicky, alleged that he was beaten by police “without reason” and suffered head injuries as a result. He said he was hit on his head repeatedly with batons.
Neither Commissioner of Police Henry Greene nor Berbice Commander George Vyphius could be reached for a comment.
Prakash told Stabroek News Thursday evening that he had showed up at his in-laws’ Canje home on Sunday to visit his child when he was attacked by a rural constable (RC) related to his reputed wife and then later by other ranks from a police van.
Prakash’s allegations come after police allegedly tortured a 15-year-old and two other men while they were in custody. “Saturday night my wife and I had a lil problem and she left with our two-month-old son and said she was going to her parents in Canje,” Prakash explained. “About 1 o’clock Sunday night [1am Monday morning] I called her and ask if I could come over to see her and the baby and she agreed and told me that she would open the door.”
Prakash said that he took a taxi to his in-laws Canje home and stood in front the house calling out to his reputed wife and her parents. Shortly after his arrival, Prakash recalled, the RC entered the yard. “After I see [RC named] come in the yard I ain’t really pay no more attention to him because same time my wife open the door,” Prakash said.
The man said he entered the house and immediately headed to the room where his child was asleep. Prakash said he picked his son up and it was then he became aware that the RC had followed him. The RC, Prakash reported, began hitting him on the head and about the body while he still held the baby in his arms.
A short time later, Prakash said, a van-load of police showed up at the Canje residence and the RC dragged him from the house, down the stairs and into the yard where one of several police men approached him. “Up to now the police ain’t tell me nothing. They ain’t say why they come and I remember is this one police walk up to me with a baton in his hand and start lashing me in my head,” Prakash explained.
The last thing he remembered was being beaten to the head by the police rank. Prakash said that persons who witnessed the beating later told him that he lost consciousness and was thrown into the police van. “When I woke up early the morning I was in the lockups and I find out later that I was at the Reliance Police Station,” Prakash said. “When I wake up I was vomiting and my head did feeling right and I started to call out to the police but they ignored me and only said I had to wait until they were ready to take me to New Amsterdam Police Station.”
Later Monday Prakash said he was taken to the New Amsterdam Police Station and was released shortly after. While he was travelling home with his mother, he recalled, he complained of feeling unwell. It wasn’t until he arrived home that he had a severe pain in the head and lost consciousness.
Prakash’s mother, who was with him, said her son had “a fits-like symptom and just drop down like that.” The woman said he was rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital (NAH) that day and admitted a patient. Prakash was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Monday night where he remained until last evening.
“I took a CT scan but we ain’t get the results back yet,” Prakash reported. “My mother explained to the doctors today [Thursday] that it was hassling for her to travel from Berbice to Georgetown every day and they transfer me back to New Amsterdam Hospital.”
After the beating, Prakash said, he’d sustained a bruise to his arm but the mark has since faded.
The man said that while there are no wounds on his head he is in constant pain. Police, the man further said, still have not told him what offence he committed. Prakash insists that he was treated in a “horrible manner” that was unfair to him and “not in keeping with justice.” “Listen, up to now I can’t tell you is why they beat me like that,” the man said. “Up to now I don’t know what I do…it look like if you cuss up somebody now the police going to come and beat you.”
