A video has been doing the rounds on social media wherein some Maharashtra police personnel are seen mercilessly beating up a man with rods and belts, while the latter pleads for mercy with folded hands. The victim tries to give an explanation to the policemen, who pay no heed to what he says and instead continue to rain sticks and rods at him.
According to a report by Divya Marathi, the incident reportedly took place inside the premises of a hospital in Jalna, Maharashtra on April 9, 2021. The man who is being thrashed in the video is a local BJP leader named Shivraj Nariyalwale.
According to the local newspaper, on April 9, the day of the purported incident, Shivraj Nariyalwale, who is the General Secretary of BJP Yuva Morcha in Jalna district, was informed that a youth died while undergoing treatment at the private hospital. The relatives of the deceased accused the hospital of negligence. Nariyalwale, along with other activists reached the hospital and questioned the hospital administration.
Angered over the sheer negligence of the hospital authorities leading to the death of the youth, the relatives including family members of the deceased got into an argument with the hospital staff. This culminated in a scuffle between the two groups. Seeing the situation go out of hand, the hospital staff informed the police.
Senior rank officers of Maharashtra police beat up the local BJP leader
The Jalna police personnel led by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sudhir Khiradkar and Inspector Prashant Mahajan of Kadim Jalna police station, rushed to the hospital. Initially, the police tried to persuade the relatives of the deceased. However, when the relatives did not pay heed, the police started admonishing and abusing them. The local BJP leader Shivraj Nariyalwale took out his phone and started recording the police’ high handedness.
This further irked the Maharashtra police, who pulled out Nariyalwale from the crowd and took him to another room, inside the hospital premises, where they brutally thrashed him with belts and rods.
Though the incident happened in the beginning of April, it was not reported anywhere, since the BJP leader was too scared to come out in the open and narrate his ordeal.
The BJP leader speaks up 2 months after the incident, releases video
Recently, when reports emerged that Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sudhir Khiradkar has been suspended in a separate bribery case, the local BJP leader mustered the courage to release the video of the incident and speak up about the atrocities meted out at him by Maharashtra police.
Speaking to Divya Marathi, Shivraj Nariyalwale confirmed that the person in the purported video was him. “I was brutally beaten on April 9, 2021. At that time, the perpetrators were not ordinary police personnel but high rank officers like the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and senior police inspector. I felt helpless when so many officers assaulted me together.”
“People ask me as to why then I remained silent and not lodge a complaint against the officers? I was really scared. The mental agony was more than the physical injury. But now I’m out of that mental stress. Ever since the video went viral, I have received many phone calls. While some have expressed sympathy, some have also advised me to forget about what happened. But, I will not remain silent now. I will file a case under IPC section 307 against those who had beat me inhumanely”, added the local BJP leader.
Maharashtra police and its high-handedness
The high handedness of the Maharashtra police, working at the behest of the Uddhav Thackeray government in the state is quite well established.
Speaking of one such incident, last year, the Maharashtra police had resorted to attacking student activists belonging to Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad for protesting against the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government demanding a 30 per cent waiver of fees.
Then, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena activists wanted to meet Minister Abdul Sattar for urging a fee waiver and also present other demands, however, the Maharashtra police had then launched an all-out attack against the student activists and also punched them in the face in the presence of the Maharashtra minister, who was seen comfortably sitting inside his car.
Similarly in November 2020, the Mumbai police came down heavily on the Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) workers staging a peaceful protest against the illegal crackdown on media and social media by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra.
