In an altercation between a police inspector and Hindutva workers, the officer was shoved off and beaten by the latter in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh late on Sunday night, April 7.
A video of the incident is making rounds on social media. Siasat.com spoke to Varanasi Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Pragya Pathak who confirmed the occurrence.
“The incident occurred in Godowlia Crossing near Kashi Vishwanath temple. Police inspector Anand Prakash was conducting vehicle checks as part of the election commission’s model code of conduct when he stopped two bikes with no number plates,” the ACP said.
It should be noted that on March 16, the model code of conduct came into power nationwide, after the Election Commission announced the 17th Lok Sabha dates to be held in seven phases in a span of two months starting from April 19 to June 1. The counting of votes and result declaration will be held on June 4.
When Inspector Prakash enquired about it, the men started creating a ruckus. In the melee, the inspector was pushed and beaten to the floor.
The video shows four men wearing saffron shawls kicking the police officer who is lying on the ground. One of them is heard saying, “Teri vardhi uthar doonga (I will strip you of your uniform),”
Inspector Prakash was finally rescued by his colleagues who rushed to the spot and calmed the angry men.
A case has been lodged against the five men and 10-15 unknown people. In his complaint, Inspector Prakash named Nitish Singh, Nitesh Narsinghani, Rahul Singh, Sunny Gupta, and Gappu Singh.
Police booked the accused under sections 147 (rioting), 332 (voluntarily causes hurt to a public servant while they are performing their duty), 353 (stopping a public servant from doing his work), 307 (causing hurt with intent to murder), 504 (inciting someone to commit a crime), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 427 (causing damage to anything belonging to a person worth more than Rs 50 in order to harass a person) of the IPC.
Local reports suggest the men were let off after some time. When asked about it, ACP Pragya Thakur dismissed the claim and said the investigations are underway. She also informed that Inspector Prakash received no serious injuries.
You can watch the video here
Varanasi is the Parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The temple city goes to polls in the last phase on June 1.
Height of BJP anarchy: Akhilesh
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the incident as “height of BJP anarchy”. Taking on X, he said, “The violent behaviour of BJP workers with the police inspector in Varanasi, the prime parliamentary constituency of the country, is the height of BJP anarchy. Now let’s see when the bulldozers run on the houses of these anti-social elements.”
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