Woman, daughter thrashed by cops, two constables sent to police lines
A woman and her daughter were thrashed with batons for allegedly manhandling policemen who stopped them from constructing a shanty in north-east Delhi’s Shastri
A woman and her daughter were thrashed with batons for allegedly manhandling policemen who stopped them from constructing a shanty in north-east Delhi’s Shastri Park on Monday night, the police said.
The alleged high-handedness by the policemen led to two constables being sent to police lines, which effectively puts them off active policing duties.
“We have initiated an inquiry into the incident,” Ved Prakash Surya, the deputy commissioner of police (north-east) said, adding that no first information report (FIR) has been filed against either party.
The baton blows and the manhandling that preceded it left the mother-daughter duo and a policeman with injuries. “All three of them received blunt injuries. They are out of danger,” the DCP said.
The mother-daughter duo has been identified as Munni Devi and Soni, who live with their family in Shastri Park and work odd jobs.
The DCP said that the trigger for the confrontation was a tip that the local police received about some people constructing an unauthorised shanty on government land near the Shastri Park Metro station.
“Constables Sanjeev and Jaichand who were patrolling the neighbourhood visited the spot around 9pm and saw the illegal construction. When they asked the people there to stop the construction, Munni Devi and her family members began abusing them,” the DCP said.
The officer said that the family didn’t stop the construction and eventually began manhandling the two constables. “They beat up constable Sanjeev and tore his uniform. He had to call his colleagues for help,” the DCP said.
A video of the incident, purportedly shot by Munni’s relatives, shows two policemen raining batons on the mother-daughter duo even as other policemen appear to be failing in stopping the assault.
Munni and daughter are seen falling on the road and trying to run away from the policemen who continue to chase them even as another woman in the background is heard shouting abuses.