- Salman Sahaduth, 20, has a fractured right arm
- Farhaan, 17, was locked in a police station toilet
- A complaint lodged with the Independent Police Complaints Commission
“My son is not a thief! » Shaminaaz Sahaduth, 42, is an angry mother. She denounces the violence that her 20-year-old and 17-year-old sons allegedly suffered at the hands of the police. A complaint was lodged with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) on Monday May 13.
The life of the Sahaduth family, living in Mont-Gout, was turned upside down last Friday, May 10. That day, she says, her son Salman, who is 20 years old, was taken away manu militari by elements of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) in Goodlands. The police suspected him of being involved in bus thefts.
Salman Sahaduth, who works as an electrician, claims to have been tortured and beaten by Goodlands CID sleuths, to the point that he had to be hospitalized for three days. He suffers from a broken right arm, bruises on his heel and possibly perforated ear. The young man, who has no criminal record, maintains his innocence, arguing that the police acted on false information, or confused him with someone else.
According to Shaminaaz, employed as a cook at SSRN Hospital, from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., her son Salman was detained at the Goodlands CID office for interrogation that she describes as “violent.” “I was at work when, around 2 p.m., I received a call from my son's friends informing me that Goodlands CID had arrested him without explanation. They told me that the officers had ordered them to leave under penalty of arrest,” testifies the mother.
Despite her efforts to obtain information, she was unable to learn anything until 3 p.m., when she was able to leave work to go to Goodlands police station. When she arrived, she was surprised to see her son Farhaan, a Grade 11 student at DAV College in Goodlands, present at the CID office. “I thought he was coming to the news. He told me that the CID officers arrested him at school and brought him here. They told him: 'Tonn kokin dan bis, nou pou met twa dan kaso.' He denied it and they locked him in the toilet,” she says.
She denounces the fact that her minor son was taken to the police station without her being informed. Although he did not suffer physical violence, the 17-year-old describes a psychologically trying experience. “At the CID office, they locked me in a toilet and told me to smoke a cigarette and think. Zot inn dir mwa reflecti ki mo pudir, ek si mo brother ek mwa aksepte ki nou'nn kokin, zot pour les nou ale. I denied it and they took me to the office where Salman was bleeding from his mouth and ear,” says Farhaan.
According to his parents, Salman is far from being a delinquent. Working hard in a mattress factory in the morning and in a snack bar in the evening, he also works as an electrician in his spare time, they say. “He is an innocent man who was beaten and humiliated,” protests Shaminaaz.
For the Sahaduth family, their lives have been completely turned upside down. Salman and his younger brother Farhaan suffer from anxiety attacks and insomnia, reveals their mother Shaminaaz.
She also deplores the fact that Farhaan is suffering the repercussions of the CID's actions at his college. “Now everyone at school thinks he did something wrong because the CID police arrested him in class,” she says.
Accompanied by their lawyer, Salman and his brother, in the presence of their parents, went to the IPCC to file a complaint of police brutality. Salman described his ordeal, saying he was beaten with a black plastic pipe and “tasered” into confessing to a crime he did not commit.
“I ask the Prime Minister and the police commissioner not to turn a blind eye to this matter. We demand the resignation of these officers. These police officers have no place in the force, they do not deserve their badge. They committed an inhumane act and must pay the consequences. They are a disgrace to the police and abuse their power. They must resign,” urges Shaminaaz.
Goodlands CID denies accusations
Goodlands CID also entered a report in the police Occurrence Book on Tuesday 21 May 2024 to provide their version of events, denying the allegations of brutality. They, however, admit to taking Farhaan from school, recognizing that he is a minor.
According to the police report, three detectives from the Goodlands CID arrested Salman Sahaduth for questioning as a suspect in several cases of the theft of audio equipment from buses in the area. He denied the accusations and no identification exercise was carried out due to a lack of witnesses. He was released unconditionally at 5:35 p.m. and later went to SSRN Hospital for treatment.
On the same day, detectives also questioned a minor, Muhamad Ali Farhaan Jookhun.
