A court in Assam’s Karimganj district has directed that a case be registered against a police officer after two suspected thieves were allegedly tortured in custody.

The chief judicial magistrate (CJM) has ordered the proceedings against Neelambazar police station officer-in charge Deepjyoti Malakar after the duo raised the torture allegations when they were produced in the court on Thursday.

The suspects, who were arrested by Neelambazar Police on Wednesday night, claimed that the physical abuse in custody was carried out under Malakar’s instruction, said advocate Rososindhu Dutta, who is representing the duo.

Malakar has denied the allegations against him, claiming that it was a ploy of the two suspects to save themselves as police had “full proof” of their crimes.

In custody, one of them was tortured in various ways, including rubbing of chilli powder on private parts and pouring inflammable liquid on his body and threatening him to set him on fire, according to Dutta.

They also pointed to a policeman present in the court who had helped in the torture, prompting CJM Nur Md Abdullah Ahmed Majumdar to questioning the personnel in this regard. The policeman accepted before the court of his compliance in the custodial torture, Dutta said.

The CJM admonished Malakar then and ordered the registration of a case against him under Indian Penal Code sections 330 and 323, which deal with voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession.

The proceedings lasted for over five hours, at the end of which the two suspected thieves were remanded in judicial custody, Dutta added.