PRAYAGRAJ, Sept. 12 -- The Allahabad high court dismissed pleas seeking relief for police personnel accused of repeatedly beating people in custody and molesting women, observing that such violence could not be treated as part of police duty and could only be described as a crime.

A bench of Justice Madan Pal Singh noted that the victims were allegedly subjected to repeated beatings in custody after their hands and feet were tied with a rope and they were made to lie face down.

In its September 9 order, the court said such acts could not be termed a part of police duty and observed, ".it can only be described as a heinous crime nor can it be argued that the police merely overstepped their limits slightly in the course of an investigatio...