BENGALURU: Standing below his apartment in SG Palya, smoking a cigarette at 1am with two friends on Tuesday, proved a nightmarish experience for this 20-year-old third-year engineering student. Shahid (name changed) and his friends were questioned by a Cheetah patrol policeman, harassed and beaten up.
They are now in a government hospital, under treatment for bruises and blood clots after being rained with lathis at the police station.
They alleged that the policeman on patrol duty arrived and questioned them as to what they were doing there at that hour, before trying to snatch Shahid’s mobile phone from him. He allegedly asked Shahid to show him his mobile phone and the pictures taken on it. The three youths are studying in various colleges in the city.
They tried to reason with the cop that they were students. Shahid is also doing his internship with a startup, close to where he stays in SG Palya.
“We showed our ID cards too, but when I told him my name, he asked me: ‘Are you a Pakistani?’ That’s when I got scared. Then he grabbed my collar and called a patrolling Hoysala vehicle, which took me and my friends to SG Palya police station,” Shahid told TNIE.
At the police station, Shahid and his friends were allegedly beaten up with lathis. Shahid was able to inform his local guardian only after 3am. The guardian then bailed them out after paying Rs 500 per person for a case of causing public nuisance.
Shahid and his local guardian then sent messages over WhatsApp to BTM Layout MLA R Ramalinga Reddy. However, on receiving no response from him, they called Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East in-charge) N Anucheth and informed him about the incident. Anucheth told TNIE, “I have asked the ACP (Mico Layout) to conduct an inquiry personally and brief me immediately.”
The three youths have blood clots and bruises on their arms, shoulders, thighs and back, and have been under treatment since Tuesday morning.
Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao said, “Let the students first complete and get their medico-legal certificate (which assesses their injuries for investigative purposes). Once the inquiry is done, I will personally look into the case.”
Students celebrating festival caned
Bengaluru: A group of college students and techies landed in trouble while celebrating the festival of Lohri on Monday night when the Bellandur police rushed to the spot and caned them. In all, 20 people were celebrating the festival by dancing and singing while playing music in front of their paying guest accommodation in Kaikondrahalli on Monday night around 9 pm. At 11 pm, a police van reached the spot and policemen started caning them. Some of them were injured in the incident. Puneet Nagar, a resident of Kaikondrahalli, said, “We were only celebrating the festival and the police came from nowhere and started lathicharging us. They did not even tell us why they were doing it, and just started hitting us.” Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao told The New Indian Express, “No such incident took place. I had verified this from my officers. We will never do anything like this when someone is celebrating a festival. This is false news spread through social media.” Bellandur police were unavailable for comment.