BHOPAL: GRP police station’s woman in-charge, in-charge head constable and four cops have been suspended after a 2023 video went viral. It showed the torture of a Dalit woman and her teenaged grandson by Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel in Katni district.
In the video which was posted by former MP CM Kamal Nath on social media platform X on Wednesday evening, a woman and her 15-year-old grandson are seen being forcibly pulled by GRP personnel.
The 2.59-second-long clip is ostensibly shot at GRP-Katni police station. In the video, a woman police officer is seen pulling the scheduled caste woman (aged around 55) by her hair and beating her with a lathi. The woman cop subsequently is seen assaulting the woman’s minor grandson in the same manner, before at least five male GRP personnel are seen holding the minor tightly and then beating him ruthlessly with a lathi on the hips, back and legs. At the end of the video, the tortured minor is seen narrating the incident.
“We were brought to Katni GRP police station by cops enquiring for my father, who is a poor labourer, but has been implicated in false cases of theft,” the boy said in the video.
With the video going viral, the Congress targeted the state government in the matter, accusing Dr Mohan Yadav government of being insensitive to scheduled caste and scheduled tribes.
“Acting against the law, the authorities demolished the house of a man accused of leading a mob in attacking a police station in Chhatarpur recently. Will the CM now order the demolition of houses of the GRP personnel involved in the savagery with the Dalit woman and her grandson in Katni,” state Congress chief Jitu Patwari said.
The MP Congress chief was scheduled to meet the family later on Wednesday in Katni.
Taking to X, MP CM Dr Mohan Yadav posted, “An old video of assault by the officer/employees of GRP Thana Katni is going viral on social media. As soon as it came to my notice, I immediately directed to send DIG Rail to the spot for investigation this morning. Senior police officers have been directed to ensure that such misconduct is not repeated in future.”