An Indian army jawan Pawan Kumar Yadav was badly beaten by cops in Chatra district in Jharkhand on Wednesday for not wearing mask. Ironically, neither cops nor senior officers of the mask checking drive were wearing mask properly.
Later on, Chatra SP Rakesh Ranjan suspended three cops and two were attached to police line on late Wednesday night.
“Three cops have been suspended and two cops attached to police line. But initial investigation has suggested that the army jawan was at fault who first abused cops on the duty,” Chatra SP informed.
The incident took place at Karma Chowk under Mayurhand police station area about 45 km from the district headquarters. The army jawan identified as a native of Arabhusahi village under Katkamsandi police station of Hazaribagh, was passing through the chowk on his bike.
Since he had not masked his face he was stopped by cops and one of the cops Havaldar Sanjay Bahadur Rana took away key of his bike. That infuriated Yadav who protested strongly and warned cops to behave properly.
This soon escalated into assault and outrage as cops knocked down Yadav and mercilessly beaten him. All these happened in presence of magistrate cum Block Development Officer Saket Kumar Singh besides Assistant Sub-Inspectors Jawahar Ram and Munna Prasad. All of them were silently watching cops assaulting Yadav despite he had revealed his identity. Yadav is GD jawan posted in Jodhpur.
Amid chaos the jawan was taken to police station. Local residents objected to cops dragging and thrashing an army jawan and they also blocked Itkhori-Jihu road. The blockade could be removed on late Wednesday night after Chatra SP suspended three cops and attached two cops to policeline.
The incident could have gone unnoticed and unreported but somebody filmed the incident and uploaded it on social sites that became viral in no time. The local BJP MP Sunil Kumar Singh too spoke to Chatra SP Rakesh Ranjan about the incident. Now in order to save the face and situation Chatra SP directed DSP (Headquarter) Kedar Ram to submit report. On the basis of his report Chatra SP took action against five cops.
Md Sarfaraz, a local resident however pointed out that Chatra SP should teach discipline and civic sense to his cops.
“Here in Chatra even a cop carries arrogance of IPS. On the name of mask and helmet checking they abuse civilians,” said Sarfaraz.
