India, July 24 -- The Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) on Thursday took suo motu cognisance of allegations of custodial violence in Gurugram's Sohna observing that "police custody cannot become a means of torture" as it directed the Haryana director general of police (DGP) to have the matter investigated by an officer not below the rank of inspector general of police (IGP).

The commission's intervention follows a June 30 judicial order by Sohna judicial magistrate first class Mandeep Singh in connection with an FIR registered on June 26 at Sohna Sadar police station under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Arms Act.

The matter in question concerns a suspect who was in police custody and was due to be p...