News Analysis India

Tag: Police Brutality

  • Angered by ‘custodial death’ of youth, Bihar mob attack cops, woman constable killed

    By PTI
    JEHANABAD (Bihar): A female constable died after being run over by a vehicle here while trying to quell a mob which in protest against a custodial death indulged in heavy stone-pelting and fired gunshots in the air, leaving many police personnel injured.

    The busy Jehanabad-Arwal highway remained jammed for hours on account of the trouble that erupted in Parasbigha police station area of the district, said Sub Divisional Police Officer, Jehanabad, Ashok Kumar Pandey.

    “The mob was furious over the death of one Govind Manjhi who was arrested some time back for engaging in liquor trade. He had been remanded to judicial custody and lodged at a jail in the adjoining Aurangabad district”, he said.

    Notably, sale and consumption of liquor is completely banned in Bihar where the Nitish Kumar government had brought in a stringent prohibition law six years ago.

    “Manjhi died at the jail on Friday. As the news reached here, residents of his village squatted on the highway blaming the death on physical torture. When a police party tried to assuage them, they took recourse to violence”, said Pandey.

    The SDPO said the constable, Kanti Devi, “was hit by a vehicle while she was engaged in the operation and she succumbed to injuries while being rushed to a hospital”.

    “The agitators indulged in heavy stone-pelting and fired a few shots from unlicensed firearms. Several police personnel have received grievous injuries. We have arrested five people in this connection. A heavy deployment of police is in place to keep the situation under control,” said Pandey.

  • Man’s death sparks tension in Nagpur locality; locals say police thrashed him, cops deny

    By PTI
    NAGPUR: Tension prevailed in Pardi area of Nagpur city on Wednesday night following the death of a man, with local residents and relatives alleging that he died after being beaten up by the police as he had rammed his motorcycle into an on-duty police personnel at nakabandi point.

    However, the police contested the claim saying the man was riding the motorcycle under the influence of liquor and met with an accident.

    The incident occurred around 9 pm.

    After the death of the man, identified as Manoj Haribhau Thawkar, who lived in Pardi, the local residents and his relatives held a protest against police at Bhavani hospital in the city and demanded action against the cops.

    A police official said, “Thawkar was going through the Pardi area on a motorcycle. After spotting the police nakabandi, the man suddenly lost control over the vehicle and rammed it into an on-duty police sub-inspector (PSI). As a result, Thawkar fell on the road.”

    “The man was riding the motorcycle under the influence of liquor,” the official said, adding that he was taken to the police station, where he fainted.

    The police then rushed him to Bhavani hospital, where doctors declared him dead, he added.

    However, the locals alleged that the man was mercilessly beaten up by the on-duty policemen after the incident at the nakabandi point.

    He fell unconscious on the spot itself.

    The man was not responding when he was taken to the police station.

    Later, the police admitted him to the hospital where doctors declared him dead, they claimed.

    Hundreds of local residents gathered at the hospital and raised slogans against police.

    The locals demanded stern action against the cops responsible for the death.

    A team of Riot Control Police (RCP) was deployed at the hospital.

    Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) (North Region) Navinchandra Reddy, DCP (zone V) Neelotpal and other officers also visited the spot.

    A police official said that the exact cause of the death would be ascertained only after checking the CCTV footage.

    Police said they were trying to pacify the angry mob.