Madhya Pradesh Police beats lawyer: "We Thought You Were Muslim"

[srh]

“You had a long beard, that is why police officials beat you up. They thought you were a Muslim. The man who thrashed you is a kattar (staunch) Hindu.”

This is how two policemen in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul apologised to lawyer Deepak Bandele and asked him to take back his case against police officials who thrashed him ruthlessly on 23 March, while he was going to a hospital.

What Had Happened?

On 23 March, two days before nationwide lockdown came into force, Bandele was going to a hospital for treatment when he was stopped by some policemen who were on patrolling duty.

Bandele tried to explain that he has a history of high blood pressure and sugar and needed to go to the hospital for regular treatment, but one police official slapped him without listening to what he had to say.
I told them to act within constitutional limits but the police officer started abusing not just me, but also the Indian Constitution. Within minutes, other police officers also started beating me up brutally.
The thrashing stopped only after Bandele told them he is a lawyer and will complain against them to the senior in-charges. He called his friend and brother after the incident who took them to the hospital and got a medicolegal (MLC) report done.

‘Police Is Pressurising Me to Take Back Complaint; Threatening of Persecution in False Cases’

The next morning, Bandele complained to the district Superintendent of Police, D.S. Bhadoria, and the state Director General of Police, Vivek Johri. He subsequently also wrote to the chief minister, state’s human rights commission, the bar council and other top government officials. He also filed an RTI to retrieve the CCTV footage of the day. Two months after the incident, neither was he given access to the CCTV footage nor has his FIR been lodged. Instead, Bandele says he is being constantly pressurised to take back the complaint.

“One police official told me that since I am a lawyer, it will bode me well to cooperate with police officials instead of messing with them. He said, if I irk the policemen, they can entrap me in a false case as well.”

‘Police Said Man Who Beat Me up Was a Kattar Hindu and Mistook Me for a Muslim’

In his complaint to the SP on 24 March, Bandele had asked for an FIR to be registered. In connection with that, two police officials reached his residence on 17 May, almost two months after the incident. The officials had come to record his version, instead they revealed the “real reason” behind beating him up.

This is when the police officials, in their defence, told Bandele that he was beaten up because he was wrongly identified as a Muslim. Bandele had recorded the audio of the conversation which he shared with The Quint.

According to the recording, voices allegedly belonging to the police officials, initially try to convince Bandele to not lodge an FIR.

One of the officers can be heard saying, “You are like my son, I am making a heartfelt request to you to write, "the police officials did not behave indecently with me.” You must adhere to our request....We are all living in Gandhi’s country, we are Gandhi’s children.”

When Bandele refuses to budge, the officer further says, “I have at least 50 friends from your caste.”

Bandele still refuses to go back on his word. That is when one of the officers say, “Whenever there a Hindu-Muslim riot, police always take the side of Hindus. Even Muslims know that.”

Bandele retorts, “That day there were no Hindu-Muslim riots.”

The officer explains, “There were some incidents before you that day, that is why the police was a little hassled. And they mistook you for a Muslim because of your long beard.”

The second officer adds, “The man who beat you up is a kattar (staunch) Hindu. Whenever there is a Hindu-Muslim riots and the Muslims are arrested, he always beats them up brutally. I am not boasting. You can test him yourself someday.”

Bandele still refused to withdraw his complaint and said he has been a professional journalist before becoming a lawyer. He told them he has decided to pursue the complaint since he has already notified top government officials.

https://www.thequint.com/news/india/mp-police-beating-lawyer-thought-muslim-because-of-beard

 

[KingKhanWC]

Poor policeman how will he sleep at night.

However Im sure he made up for his mistake by beating up someone who came out of a mosque.

 

[Mesozoic]

“You had a long beard, that is why police officials beat you up. They thought you were a Muslim. The man who thrashed you is a kattar (staunch) Hindu.”

“One police official told me that since I am a lawyer, it will bode me well to cooperate with police officials instead of messing with them. He said, if I irk the policemen, they can entrap me in a false case as well.”

This is when the police officials, in their defence, told Bandele that he was beaten up because he was wrongly identified as a Muslim. Bandele had recorded the audio of the conversation which he shared with The Quint.

When Bandele refuses to budge, the officer further says, “I have at least 50 friends from your caste.”

Bandele still refuses to go back on his word. That is when one of the officers say, “Whenever there a Hindu-Muslim riot, police always take the side of Hindus. Even Muslims know that.”

The second officer adds, “The man who beat you up is a kattar (staunch) Hindu. Whenever there is a Hindu-Muslim riots and the Muslims are arrested, he always beats them up brutally. I am not boasting. You can test him yourself someday.”

Beyond pathetic.

I hope that "kattar Hindu" guy gets fired , put behind bars and gets a taste of his own medicine from a Muslim cop. What a degenerate piece of filth !

 

[Nostalgic]

“You had a long beard, that is why police officials beat you up. They thought you were a Muslim. The man who thrashed you is a kattar (staunch) Hindu.”

This is how two policemen in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul apologised to lawyer Deepak Bandele and asked him to take back his case against police officials who thrashed him ruthlessly on 23 March, while he was going to a hospital.

What Had Happened?

On 23 March, two days before nationwide lockdown came into force, Bandele was going to a hospital for treatment when he was stopped by some policemen who were on patrolling duty.

Bandele tried to explain that he has a history of high blood pressure and sugar and needed to go to the hospital for regular treatment, but one police official slapped him without listening to what he had to say.
I told them to act within constitutional limits but the police officer started abusing not just me, but also the Indian Constitution. Within minutes, other police officers also started beating me up brutally.
The thrashing stopped only after Bandele told them he is a lawyer and will complain against them to the senior in-charges. He called his friend and brother after the incident who took them to the hospital and got a medicolegal (MLC) report done.

‘Police Is Pressurising Me to Take Back Complaint; Threatening of Persecution in False Cases’

The next morning, Bandele complained to the district Superintendent of Police, D.S. Bhadoria, and the state Director General of Police, Vivek Johri. He subsequently also wrote to the chief minister, state’s human rights commission, the bar council and other top government officials. He also filed an RTI to retrieve the CCTV footage of the day. Two months after the incident, neither was he given access to the CCTV footage nor has his FIR been lodged. Instead, Bandele says he is being constantly pressurised to take back the complaint.

“One police official told me that since I am a lawyer, it will bode me well to cooperate with police officials instead of messing with them. He said, if I irk the policemen, they can entrap me in a false case as well.”

‘Police Said Man Who Beat Me up Was a Kattar Hindu and Mistook Me for a Muslim’

In his complaint to the SP on 24 March, Bandele had asked for an FIR to be registered. In connection with that, two police officials reached his residence on 17 May, almost two months after the incident. The officials had come to record his version, instead they revealed the “real reason” behind beating him up.

This is when the police officials, in their defence, told Bandele that he was beaten up because he was wrongly identified as a Muslim. Bandele had recorded the audio of the conversation which he shared with The Quint.

According to the recording, voices allegedly belonging to the police officials, initially try to convince Bandele to not lodge an FIR.

One of the officers can be heard saying, “You are like my son, I am making a heartfelt request to you to write, "the police officials did not behave indecently with me.” You must adhere to our request....We are all living in Gandhi’s country, we are Gandhi’s children.”

When Bandele refuses to budge, the officer further says, “I have at least 50 friends from your caste.”

Bandele still refuses to go back on his word. That is when one of the officers say, “Whenever there a Hindu-Muslim riot, police always take the side of Hindus. Even Muslims know that.”

Bandele retorts, “That day there were no Hindu-Muslim riots.”

The officer explains, “There were some incidents before you that day, that is why the police was a little hassled. And they mistook you for a Muslim because of your long beard.”

The second officer adds, “The man who beat you up is a kattar (staunch) Hindu. Whenever there is a Hindu-Muslim riots and the Muslims are arrested, he always beats them up brutally. I am not boasting. You can test him yourself someday.”

Bandele still refused to withdraw his complaint and said he has been a professional journalist before becoming a lawyer. He told them he has decided to pursue the complaint since he has already notified top government officials.

https://www.thequint.com/news/india/mp-police-beating-lawyer-thought-muslim-because-of-beard

These cops sound like rank amateurs. Everyone knows you’re first supposed to check for circumsicions before administering the beatings.

Such incompetence would’ve been unheard of in 1947.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Madhya Pradesh Police Apologise for Beating Lawyer, 'We Thought You Were Muslim,' They Say


New Delhi: In Madhya Pradesh’s Betul, an incident which is striking in its example of Islamophobia and police highhandedness has come to light.

On March 23, a lawyer Deepak Bundele was beaten up brutally by the state police while he was on his way to a government hospital for treatment. A month later, he is under pressure from the police to withdraw his complaint. Police officials, in their defence, told Bundele that he was beaten up because they had wrongly identified him as a Muslim man.

Speaking to The Wire, Bundele said that on March 23, between 5.30 and 6 pm, he was on his way to the hospital when he was stopped by the police. “The nationwide lockdown hadn’t come into place then but Section 144 had been imposed in Betul. I have been an acute diabetic and blood pressure patient for the last 15 years. Since I was not feeling well, I decided to visit the hospital and get some medicines. But I was stopped by the police midway.”

Bundele, who sports a beard, said that he explained to police personnel that he had to get his medicines but one of them slapped him without trying to listen to what he was saying.

“I told them that they should act within constitutional limits, and that I was ready to be detained under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code if the police thought so. On hearing this, the police personnel lost their temper, and started abusing me and the Indian constitution. Within no time, many police officials came and started beating me up with sticks,” Bundele said.

Only after he said he was a lawyer and would take them to task did they stop beating him, he said. “But by that time my ear had started bleeding profusely,” Bundele alleged.

He called his friend and brother to accompany him to the hospital later, and got a medicolegal case (MLC) report done.

On March 24, he filed a complaint with the district Superintendent of Police D.S. Bhadoria and the state Director General of Police Vivek Johri.

He wrote subsequent letters to the chief minister, state’s human rights commission, the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh high court and top government officials. Bundele also said he filed a RTI application for the CCTV footage of the March 23 incident, but was denied the information. “I received a reply saying that I had not clearly stated the reason for which I made the RTI request. But I have been told unofficially that the CCTV footage may have been deleted from the government files,” the lawyer said.

Since then, he alleged, police have been trying really hard to get him to withdraw the complaint. “First, some of the top officials told me that they could issue a statement condemning and apologising for the incident, if I withdraw my complaint. Then some told me that if my brother, who is also a lawyer, and I wanted to practice law peacefully, I should stop pursuing my complaint.”

However, Bundele didn’t budge. In his March 24 complaint to the SP he requested the district police to file an FIR against the incident. On that basis, a few police officials came to his house on May 17 to record his version. This is when the police told him that this was a case of mistaken identity, and that the police officials thought he was a Muslim.

“It should have taken the police officials not more than five minutes to record my version, but it took around three hours as they kept trying to convince me to withdraw the complaint,” Bundele said.

According to the voice recording Bundele shared with The Wire, voices allegedly belonging to police officials are heard saying that his assault was a mistake on the part of a few officials who thought he was a Muslim because of his beard. Then they go on to say that police generally support the Hindus in a situation of communal riots.

“I am making a heartfelt request to you to write, ‘the police did not behave indecently with me or beat me up’. Please agree to our request; understand that we are living in Gandhi’s country; we are all Gandhi’s children…I have at least 50 friends from your caste,” the police official said.

When Bundele insisted that he had nothing personal against him or any police official and declined to withdraw his complaint, the police official said:

“All those people are ashamed that they did something like this to a Hindu brother without knowing his identity.

“We do not have any enmity against you. Whenever there is a Hindu-Muslim riot, police always supports the Hindus; even Muslims know this. But whatever happened with you was because of ignorance. For that, I have no words,” he said.

Bundele clarified that there was no Hindu-Muslim riot that day, and asked whether he was beaten for being wrongly identified as a Muslim. The police officials agreed, and said:

“Yes, exactly. You had a long beard. The man (who assaulted you) is a kattar (staunch) Hindu…In Hindu-Muslim riots whenever a Muslim is arrested, he beats them up brutally, always.”

Bundele then goes on to say that he had been a professional journalist with leading dailies in Bhopal for 10 years, and came back to Betul only in 2017 to practice law while insisting that he won’t withdraw his complaint. He said that he has already requested top officials of the state and the country to take action in the case, and therefore, will pursue the complaint now.

An FIR against this case has still not been registered, Bundele said. “I was struck by the way the police officials apologised. Even if I was a Muslim, what gives the police the right to assault them without any cause,” he said.

The Wire sent a request to the Betul SP for a comment, but he has not replied. The story will be updated if and when his response comes.

Source: https://thewire.in/communalism/madhya-pradesh-lawyer-police-betul

So this is "mahan India shining super power 2020" on its full display. Police beating someone just because they thought he was a Muslim.

 

[sweep_shot]

This is pathetic.

These cops should receive jail sentences.

 

[Nostalgic]

For some reason the guy looks like a cross between Modi and Peter Dinklage.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Source: https://thewire.in/communalism/madhya-pradesh-lawyer-police-betul

So this is "mahan India shining super power 2020" on its full display. Police beating someone just because they thought he was a Muslim.

This is police getting caught beating someone because they thought he was Muslim. Who knows how many thousands of cases there where they did this to a Muslim guy and got away with it.

 

[Browncaps]

Poor policeman how will he sleep at night.

However Im sure he made up for his mistake by beating up someone who came out of a mosque.

I couldn't stop LOLing at this for 10 minutes.

Hope Modi will succeed in doing to ind what Zia did to Pak.

It's the least ind deserves for various false flags and terror, along with other hypocritical measures it has launched against Pak.

Even inds online behaviour which only Pakistanis used to be a victim of is now out in the open with awareness amongst neutrals increasing.

 

[Bigboii]

I couldn't stop LOLing at this for 10 minutes.

Hope Modi will succeed in doing to ind what Zia did to Pak.

It's the least ind deserves for various false flags and terror, along with other hypocritical measures it has launched against Pak.

Even inds online behaviour which only Pakistanis used to be a victim of is now out in the open with awareness amongst neutrals increasing.

Modi=Zia
Good luck india

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Beyond pathetic.

I hope that "kattar Hindu" guy gets fired , put behind bars and gets a taste of his own medicine from a Muslim cop. What a degenerate piece of filth !

Bro we will run out of space if we start putting every "kattar hindu" behind the bars. India belongs to Hindus only, if muslims feel they are being targeted they should move to Pakistan.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

For some reason the guy looks like a cross between Modi and Peter Dinklage.

He looks like young modi lol.

 

[Rajdeep]

Bro we will run out of space if we start putting every "kattar hindu" behind the bars. India belongs to Hindus only, if muslims feel they are being targeted they should move to Pakistan.

Not correct and even you know it. Lets stick to this specific case rather than paint entire India as Islamophobic.

If India belongs to hindus only how come muslim population of India has only increased since partition?

Muslims in India in 1950 cencus - 8.1%
Muslims in India 2020 - 14.8%

Also, if hindus are asking muslims to leave for Pakistan, how come not a single famous Indian muslims that I know off has ever left India and went to Pakistan. On the other hand we have plenty of examples from other side who moved to India from Pakistan.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Not correct and even you know it. stick to this specific case rather than paint entire India as Islamophobic.

If India belongs to hindus only how come muslim population of India has only increased since partition?

Muslims in India in 1950 cencus - 8.1%
Muslims in India 2020 - 14.8%

Also, if hindus are asking muslims to leave for Pakistan, how come not a single famous Indian muslims that I know off has ever left India and went to Pakistan. On the other hand we have plenty of examples from other side who moved to India from Pakistan.

Bhaijaan some of you repeat the same line in every thread. I mean this is not the first time a case like this has been reported. I will recommend you to come out of Shining India mode and accept the reality.

 

[Rajdeep]

Bhaijaan some of you repeat the same line in every thread. I mean this is not the first time a case like this has been reported. I will recommend you to come out of Shining India mode and accept the reality.

Chote, India is a country of 1.5 billion people with 14% muslim population. So do the math how many muslims lives in India. There will be odd incidents here and there im a massive country like ours. And its not only restricted with muslims only, even hindus get attacked in some parts of the country on daily basis.

But my problem is to paint entire country as Islamophobe for incidents happening in sylo. India may not be shinning yet but its not as depicable for muslims as you make it out to be. Or else, muslim population would not have increased to 14%. We have prime examples in neighbouring countries where minority population have reduced drastically. Compared to them, India is truely shinning.

 

[Sirris]

These type of police brutalities are justified by slogans of "Our people only understand Danda".

If people don't respect law and order it's because the insitutions are weak and there is no proper enforcement. Giving police the power to use Danda indiscriminately isn't the solution.

 

[Bewal Express]

We used to admire Ind for its tolerance, today Ind is under a right wing fascist dictatorship.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Not correct and even you know it. Lets stick to this specific case rather than paint entire India as Islamophobic.

If India belongs to hindus only how come muslim population of India has only increased since partition?

Muslims in India in 1950 cencus - 8.1%
Muslims in India 2020 - 14.8%

Also, if hindus are asking muslims to leave for Pakistan, how come not a single famous Indian muslims that I know off has ever left India and went to Pakistan. On the other hand we have plenty of examples from other side who moved to India from Pakistan.

Because Muslims are poor, and therefore they have more children. The population increase was not out of any benevolence, but as a result of discrimination.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Chote, India is a country of 1.5 billion people with 14% muslim population. So do the math how many muslims lives in India. There will be odd incidents here and there im a massive country like ours. And its not only restricted with muslims only, even hindus get attacked in some parts of the country on daily basis.

But my problem is to paint entire country as Islamophobe for incidents happening in sylo. India may not be shinning yet but its not as depicable for muslims as you make it out to be. Or else, muslim population would not have increased to 14%. We have prime examples in neighbouring countries where minority population have reduced drastically. Compared to them, India is truely shinning.

No it hasn't. The minority population in Pakistan is the same percentage as it was in 1951. Yes there was a decrease because of partition, but that went both ways. You want to play games with numbers, then During partition more Muslims went to West Pakistan, then Hindus went to India. The reason Indians like repeating lies about decrease of minorities is either out of ignorance, a desire to make themselves appear tolerant and Pakistan intolerant, or to keep Indian Muslims in there place.

 

[BreadPakoda]

This is police getting caught beating someone because they thought he was Muslim. Who knows how many thousands of cases there where they did this to a Muslim guy and got away with it.

Weren’t you the one who said it’s ok for the people of the religion in majority to push for dominance?

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Weren’t you the one who said it’s ok for the people of the religion in majority to push for dominance?

In culture. So if Hindus are the majority its ok to have Devnagari if they want. Same way where Muslims are majority its ok if they have Nastaliq. Things like that. Being a majority does not mean being a thug.

 

[Slog]

Such an incident happens every other week or so and every time we hear it’s an isolated case and not fair to label the society as islamophobic. However it keeps happening again and again week after week. So at what point can we say that ‘ok maybe these aren’t isolated incidents and there is a clear pattern’

 

[MP2011]

Such an incident happens every other week or so and every time we hear it’s an isolated case and not fair to label the society as islamophobic. However it keeps happening again and again week after week. So at what point can we say that ‘ok maybe these aren’t isolated incidents and there is a clear pattern’

You'll still find followers defending by saying these are one off instances.

Lol, whom are they trying to fool?

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Such an incident happens every other week or so and every time we hear it’s an isolated case and not fair to label the society as islamophobic. However it keeps happening again and again week after week. So at what point can we say that ‘ok maybe these aren’t isolated incidents and there is a clear pattern’

According to our new Bhaijaan(@Rajdeep) these are odd incidents. May be he was trying to say that these incidents happen on an odd-even basis or every other day.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

We used to admire Ind for its tolerance, today Ind is under a right wing fascist dictatorship.

When did India really have a true tolerant stance? We have had rise of the BJP since the 90's, that is almost 30 years of rising religious violence. Before that we had Indira Gandhi and her war mongering against Pakistan and the sikhs of India.

I think it would be more accurate to say we admired India for it's relatively liberal stance rather than tolerance. They have always been a bit more open to arts and foreign culture, but their tolerance levels for minorities has always been abysmal.

 

[MP2011]

As for this instance, really unfortunate. Subject cop should be summarily dismissed from the service and a case with stringent sections as IPC should be registered against him.

There should be exemplary punishment met out to this cretin.

 

[CricketCartoons]

As for this instance, really unfortunate. Subject cop should be summarily dismissed from the service and a case with stringent sections as IPC should be registered against him.

There should be exemplary punishment met out to this cretin.

If the cop has apologized for mistaking the hindu as a muslim, the matter should be closed, as there is nothing else to see here.

 

[Bigboii]

Modi=Zia
Good luck india

If the cop has apologized for mistaking the hindu as a muslim, the matter should be closed, as there is nothing else to see here.

Ok

 

[from_da_lost_dim3nsion]

Chote, India is a country of 1.5 billion people with 14% muslim population. So do the math how many muslims lives in India. There will be odd incidents here and there im a massive country like ours. And its not only restricted with muslims only, even hindus get attacked in some parts of the country on daily basis.

But my problem is to paint entire country as Islamophobe for incidents happening in sylo. India may not be shinning yet but its not as depicable for muslims as you make it out to be. Or else, muslim population would not have increased to 14%. We have prime examples in neighbouring countries where minority population have reduced drastically. Compared to them, India is truely shinning.

beta kab take badi country ka excuse ke peeche chuppo gay . Chalta hai attitude at its finest.Rape capital -- chalta hai , Muslim lynchings- chalta hai , kashmir lockdown-chalta hia , pooping on the streets- chalta hia . Badi country hai . we have lots of people - sab chalta hia

 

[from_da_lost_dim3nsion]

No it hasn't. The minority population in Pakistan is the same percentage as it was in 1951. Yes there was a decrease because of partition, but that went both ways. You want to play games with numbers, then During partition more Muslims went to West Pakistan, then Hindus went to India. The reason Indians like repeating lies about decrease of minorities is either out of ignorance, a desire to make themselves appear tolerant and Pakistan intolerant, or to keep Indian Muslims in there place.

^This!

 

[from_da_lost_dim3nsion]

Because Muslims are poor, and therefore they have more children. The population increase was not out of any benevolence, but as a result of discrimination.

And this ^

 

[daytrader]

Half the Indian cricket team sports a beard, poor excuse

 

[Bewal Express]

When did India really have a true tolerant stance? We have had rise of the BJP since the 90's, that is almost 30 years of rising religious violence. Before that we had Indira Gandhi and her war mongering against Pakistan and the sikhs of India.

I think it would be more accurate to say we admired India for it's relatively liberal stance rather than tolerance. They have always been a bit more open to arts and foreign culture, but their tolerance levels for minorities has always been abysmal.

In comparison to the last few years, they seemed to have their head screwed on. The hatred wasnt so vitriolic or open. Modi has unleashed a sectarian beast to gain power but once the genie is out of the bottle, it wont go back in.

 

[Abdullah719]

After Beating Lawyer for Looking ‘Muslim’, MP Police Now Charge Him With Assault

New Delhi: On the evening of March 23, two days before the nationwide lockdown was imposed, a Betul-based lawyer Deepak Bundele was beaten up brutally by some Madhya Pradesh police officials for pointing out the constitutional limits of police action. He was on his way to a government hospital to stock medicines for his chronic diabetes and hypertension, when one police official slapped him for not wearing a mask. When he cited the Indian constitution to stop the cop from beating him up, other police officials gathered to rough him up even more.

Subsequently, when Bundele decided to fight it out against the police highhandedness, colleagues of the accused police officials put him under pressure to withdraw the complaint. The incident garnered national attention when one police official, B.S. Patel, was heard saying in an audio clip that Bundele was beaten up because they suspected him to be a Muslim man.

Bundele, a former journalist who switched to the legal profession, sports a beard. Patel, in the audio clip, admitted that the accused police official, Kapil Saurashtriya, mistook him to be a Muslim because of the beard. Saurashtriya is a “staunch Hindu” and “tortured” any Muslim men who are in his custody, Patel proclaimed. While requesting Bundele to withdraw his case, the official admitted that the state police always favour Hindus during communal riots.

A month after Bundele’s plight caught attention, the Madhya Pradesh police has now registered a case against him. The complainant Mohit Kumar Dubey, a sub-inspector at the Betul Kotwali police station, has alleged that despite his repeated requests to Bundele to wear a mask and return home, the latter abused and manhandled police officials on March 23.

A curious FIR that alleges Bundele’s injuries are self-inflicted

Dubey has supported his FIR with statements of three witnesses who all happen to be members of the “Rashtriya Hindu Sena”. Pawan Malviya, Deepak Kose and Deepak Malviya, in their statements, said that they were present at the “Lalli Chowk” (where the incident happened) to help the police enforce the lockdown.

All three of them have said that on being asked to go home, Bundele threatened the police officials stationed there, saying that he has influence in the high court. According to them, the police officials spoke to Bundele very politely and tried to make him understand the enormity of the coronavirus pandemic, and that he should not be roaming outside. Yet, the Rashtriya Hindu Sena members said, Bundele lost his cool and created a scene, forced himself down and started beating himself up.

When a few officials attempted to pick him up from the ground, Bundele, according to the three men, allegedly said, “I will see to it that your uniform is gone, and I will file a false complaint against all of you with the superintendent of police.”

Their statements specifically mention that Kapil Saurashtriya, who Bundele had identified as leading the police officials there, did not beat him up at all. The statements of the three Rashtriya Hindu Sena members are identical and even the language used is the same.

The Betul police have charged Bundele for violating Section 144 (order prohibiting the assembly of four or more people) and under IPC sections 353 (assaulting a public servant to prevent him from performing his duty), 188 (disobeying a public order), and 294 (obscenely behaviour in a public space).

It can be noted here that in the recent Sathankulam custodial death case that has triggered outrage across the nation, the police had initially claimed that Jayaraj and Bennix had “rolled on the ground“, causing internal injuries to themselves.

Spoiler

Conflicting statements by the police

The First Information Report (FIR), Bundele told The Wire, was filed only on June 18, days after he petitioned the Madhya Pradesh high court in Jabalpur on June 8 to take action against the police officials who beat him up and address concerns of rising communal behaviour within the state police department.

“I got to know about the FIR against me only through the police’s response in the court. I had no idea about it. It is a clear act to intimidate and harass me. I want to ask the police how did I violate Section 144 if, as mentioned in the FIR, I was at the Lalli Chowk. I was on my own. Because of the restrictions on the movement of the public, I wanted to stock up my medicines,” he said.

“I have been trying to push the police to register an FIR against my assault for over three months. That has still not happened, but the police promptly filed a case against me,” he added.

Since the day Bundele’s assault by police officials was first reported by The Wire on May 20, the MP police has been attempting to pass the incident off as a one-off incident.

Speaking to The Wire, the district’s additional superintendent of police Shraddha Joshi had said that the incident was “unfortunate” but added that an FIR against the police officials had not been registered as the police department had been busy with enforcing the lockdown.

Joshi had also alleged that Bundele had “misbehaved” with the police officials on the day. Bundele had been demanding that the police should release the CCTV footage of the incident to clear the air, but Joshi said that the footage may not be available as it is usually stored for only 30 days. At the time The Wire spoke to her, she didn’t mention any Hindu Sena or any other person who may have witnessed the incident.

Also Read: After The Wire’s Report, MP Suspends Policeman Who Told Lawyer ‘We Beat You Thinking You Were Muslim’

On being asked why the police didn’t register a case against Bundele if he had misbehaved, she had told The Wire that the concerned police officials had only mentioned the incident in the station diary. However, she had said that an inquiry committee will be formed to probe Bundele’s allegations.

The state’s DGP Vivek Johari had also tweeted on May 20 to say that the inquiry committee will be steered by the deputy inspector general, Hoshangabad, but there has been no information of the committee’s progress if at all it was constituted.

Immediately after the incident was reported, the State Human Rights Commission and the National Human Rights Commission raised the issue with the state government. A large section of civil society also protested against the communal behaviour of the Betul police officials. As a result, the state police suspended B.S. Patel, the assistant sub-inspector who was heard in the audio clip. However, the main accused, Kapil Saurashtriya, was only transferred to Mandsaur, which many in the state consider to be a plum posting.

Lockdown mix-up

Much of the police’s arguments against Bundele’s petition are based on the premise that the incident happened because officials were trying to enforce a lockdown.

Curiously, the written response of the police to the petition at the Jabalpur high court wrongly stated that the nationwide lockdown was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 20. The lockdown was, in fact, announced by the PM on March 24 at 8 pm. On March 19, PM Modi addressed the nation and asked citizens to observe a voluntary ‘janata curfew’ on March 22.

The Betul police’s response in the high court erroneously says the lockdown was declared on March 20.

In other statements, the police have a different story to tell. In the FIR, ASI Dubey said that the incident happened at around 6 or 7 pm, which is one whole day before the prime minister announced the lockdown at 8 pm on March 24. Yet, Dubey says Bundele violated the lockdown.

Section 144 was imposed in Betul district on March 21, but because Bundele was on his own, he was not in violation of that order. There was also no rule mandating people to wear masks before the nationwide lockdown began on March 25.

The police have also argued in court that the petition is unwarranted as an investigation in the matter is underway. However, it did not tell the court about the status of the probe. The Justice Nandita Dubey bench of the high court, while hearing the petition on June 29, lashed out at the police’s lawyer Ajay Pratap Singh and asked him to present CCTV footage of the incident and all statements within a week.

Bundele’s allegation that the FIR against him was registered only to intimidate him gains strength on two other counts. One, the FIR against him was lodged on June 18, almost three months after the incident. The said date is conspicuous as the high court too had asked the police department to respond to the allegations made against it on June 18. Two, the witness statements of the Hindu Sena members show that they were recorded on May 20, the day when the incident was first reported in the media. Yet, the police took nearly a month to file the FIR.

The Wire tried to contact officials of the Betul police for clarification, but they could not be reached. The story will be updated if and when their response comes.

Bundele’s petition will next be heard on July 9. Bundele is now gearing up for a much longer fight than he had imagined. The lawyer, on learning about the FIR against him, has managed to get anticipatory bail in the case as of now.

“I feel insulted. They wouldn’t have done this to an influential and rich person. That is why I decided to speak up. But it seems that this struggle is going to be much longer, but I will not budge. My fight for justice will continue,” he said.

https://m.thewire.in/article/rights/deepak-bundele-betul-police-brutality-case/amp