Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal demanded an investigation after the police allegedly assaulted a sword-wielding tempo driver in North West Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar. Separate videos of the incident are being widely circulated on social media.
The tempo driver is seen chasing the police officers after an accident between their vehicles. The video starts with a police officer and the driver talking as he brandishes a sword. The officer is then seen entering a police station nearby, after which a group of officer holding lathis approach the driver. He chases after the officers with the sword and even attacks an officer when he tries to control him from behind.
The police are then seen ‘controlling’ the driver as they beat him up with lathis and drag him across the road.
A senior police officer told news agency PTI that the argument started after an accident between a police vehicle and the Gramin Sewa Tempo on Sunday evening, which soon took a violent turn. The officer said the tempo driver attacked police personnel on the head with a sword and also drove dangerously.
The tempo was being driven by his son, who alleged that he was beaten up too. “We were beaten up inside the police station as well,” the son was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
The incident took a political turn when when BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa protested outside the Mukherjee Nagar police station claiming that the police had insulted Singh by attacking his turban.
“Sitting outside Mukherjee Nagar Police Station for justice. Those @DelhiPolice officials should be rusticated right away! Join us in our Dharna,” he tweeted on Sunday evening.
DCP (North West) Vijayanta Arya said that three police personnel had been suspended for their unprofessional conduct and further legal action would be taken after an enquiry into the matter.
Delhi CM Kejriwal too condemned the police brutality and demanded strict action against the guilty. “Delhi Police brutality in Mukherjee Nagar is highly condemnanble and unjustified. I demand an impartial probe into the whole incident & strict action against the guilty. Protectors of citizens can’t be allowed to turn into uncontrolled violent mobsters,” Kejriwal tweeted.
