Ropar, April 15
Violating Supreme Court guidelines on the detention of persons, the Nangal police at 3 am today raided and beat up Raja Ram (82) and his wife Parkasho Devi (80) of Bass village near Nangal.
Octogenarian couple alleged that policemen under the influence of liquor from the Nangal police station came to their house in the village at 3 am. They beat them up and damaged household effects while inquiring about their son Vijay Kumar.
The policemen kept trashing them even when they were told that their son did not stay with them and had been disowned by them. The police party took away their gas cylinder, television set and clothes, the couple alleged.
The old couple had tell-tale marks of police brutality on arms and legs. The sources here said that the police raided the house of the old couple to arrest their son Vijay Kumar for theft.
The police party did not take the panchayat or some other responsible person along with them while raiding houses in the village.
Besides the old couple, the police today morning picked up Subash Chander and Shiv Kumar who had come to Bass village to visit their in-laws. They were let off today morning at 11 am. Both detained persons alleged that they were beaten up and humiliated by the police for no fault.
The police action infuriated residents of Bass village. They today gheraoed local MLA KPS Rana and DSP Anandpur Sahib Varinder Brar at the Nangal Municipal Council office. The MLA later told reporters that he was ashamed of the police action against the innocent villagers. He assured the villagers that appropriate action would be taken against the guilty police officials.
Sarpanch of Bass village Ram Kumar Dewedi alleged that the police had been harassing the residents of the village for the past five days. They picked up a drug addict, Rimple, of village on the charges of theft a week ago. Residents of the village were being harassed allegedly on his statements.
While the police was raiding the houses of other residents of the village, the house of the main suspect was not raided as yet. Moreover, the police also did not take into confidence the village panchayat while raiding houses. The police officials even misbehaved with the panches of the village when they tried to stop them from taking away some women of the village.
The DSP Anandpur Sahib, Varinder Brar, when contacted said that two constables, including Ajit Singh and Bhupinder Singh who entered the house of the old couple have been suspended and sent to the Police Lines. He added an inquiry has also been ordered to probe the allegations against other police officials involved in the incident.
