BHOPAL: A woman police officer was allegedly caught hold, slapped on the face, kicked on the stomach and harassed sexually - all in full public view - for stopping two men on a motorbike.
The bike-borne men were reportedly trying to escape after hitting a little girl with their vehicle in Tikamgarh district (275 km from Bhopal). Shockingly, the prime accused (riding the motorbike's pillion) was not an ordinary man, but a leader of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM), which the youth wing of ruling BJP.
The incident happened at around 7 pm in Lidhora area on Monday, when the woman police officer, who heads one of the police stations of the district, was checking illegal and overloaded vehicles in the area. Suddenly she saw two men on a motorbike speeding after hitting a little girl with their vehicle. The man driving the motorbike was talking on cell-phone while driving when the vehicle hit the girl.
"The woman police officer swung into action and managed to stop the two men fleeing on the motorcycle. Just when she asked the man driving the vehicle to show his driving licenses and registration papers of the vehicle, besides telling him that he shouldn't be talking on cell-phone while driving, the pillion rider started misbehaving with her," Tikamgarh district police superintendent Kumar Prateek told The New Indian Express on Tuesday.
The pillion rider who was identified as Lidhora town BJYM president Munendra Singh first verbally abused the woman police officer then caught hold of her through the collar of shirt, slapped her, before kicking her in the stomach - all in public view.
"The on-duty police personnel finally managed to nab Munendra Singh, but his aide Pankaj who was driving the motorbike managed to flee from the spot. A case has been lodged against the accused under Sections 354A (sexual harassment), 353 and 332 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 294 (obscene remarks) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC. The investigations are being done right at the end of SP Tikamgarh as the complainant in the case is herself a police officer," said ASP Tikamgarh Surendra Jain.
Investigations have revealed that the arrested BJYM leader Munendra Singh has already been accused in several cases, including attempted murder of his school teacher in 2012 and a case of criminal assault in 2017.