BHOPAL: Two incidents of assault on cops in last 48 hours in Guna and Satna districts of Madhya Pradesh have put under cloud the safety of police personnel at police stations and control rooms in the BJP-ruled State.
A woman assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Baby Tarannum posted at Kolgawan police station of Satna district (400m km from Bhopal) alleged on Saturday about having been beaten up in the police station premises by her junior head constable. In a video that went viral in the social media she is seen narrating about the physical assault on her by head constable Rajendra Tiwari.
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“He (Tiwari) has been troubling me since last one month. He reaches the police station before me and captures the chair meant for me. He has often been making objectionable remarks about me,” alleged Tarannun.
She alleged that when she arrived at the police station on Saturday, Tiwari, did not leave her chair despite her requesting him to empty the chair as she had to record statements of some complainants who had lost their cellphones.
“Instead of vacating the chair, he used highly abusive words against me and then physically assaulted me within the police station in the presence of other on duty staff, including the police station in-charge. He even tried to push me onto an electric inverter,” said Tarannum.
She added that despite lodging complaints against the head constable, the senior police officials have failed to take action against Tiwari. “The senior police officials, including the city SP (CSP) Sitaram Yadav has asked the officials to lodge cases against both of us instead. How is this justified?” questioned the cop.
Inspector general of police (Rewa Zone) Ashutosh Roy told the New Indian Express, “There was a clash between the two cops at the police station, which is unacceptable. The CSP was immediately sent to the police station by the SP Satna. As preliminary action in the episode, both the head constable and female ASI have been removed from the police station and attached to Satna district police lines. The CSP has been directed by the SP Satna to conduct an enquiry into the entire episode,” said Roy.
Meanwhile, in another incident on Friday in Guna district, a police constable identified as Ashutosh Tiwari was beaten up by a group of men inside the Guna police control room (PCR), some 200 km from Bhopal.
The assaulted cop alleged that a group of men barged into the PCR and beat him up badly, besides tearing his uniform. The men led by Rajiv Raghvanshi, the husband of Guna block panchayat head and BJP leader Shobhna Raghuvanshi were angry over three girls from their family having been stopped by traffic police personnel for triple riding a scooter sans helmets.
The three girls on one scooter, all relatives of the influential Raghuvanshi family, had called their kin over phone as the traffic cops were determined to impose monetary penalty on the girls for breaking traffic rules. Subsequently, the men led by the BJP leader's husband arrived at the PCR and assaulted the constable Ashutosh Tiwari before other cops.
According to the Guna SP Avinash Singh, a case against Rajiv Raghuvanshi and his kin has been lodged under Section 353 of IPC (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty). “Two accused have already been arrested in the matter,” said Singh.
However, Raghuvanshi alleged that the police have acted against him in one sided manner.