Jeevan Raj, a State-level office-bearer of the Students Federation of India, was allegedly assaulted by an Assistant Commissioner of Police and a police constable in the Ullal police station on Sunday night.
The incident comes just a few days after a local magistrate court registered a private complaint accusing Bajpe police of harassing and illegally detaining a youth.
Muneer Katipalla, district secretary of Democratic Youth Federation of India, told presspersons that the State joint secretary of the organisation, Mr. Raj, who is a lecturer at a city college, was returning home around midnight when Assistant Commissioner of Police T.R. Jagannath and some constables who were on a patrol near Kuttar, stopped Mr. Raj and asked for the documents of his two-wheeler.
Mr. Katipalla said that Mr. Raj was taken to the Ullal Police Station despite showing the necessary documents.
“As Raj was trying to send me an SMS about the incident, police constable Satish saw it and threw his mobile phone away,” Mr. Muneer said. Satish then abused and assaulted Raj after making him remove his clothes. Mr. Jagannath then came to the police station and allegedly kicked Raj, he said.
Raj has now been admitted to a private hospital. The DYFI and the SFI had demanded booking a criminal case against Mr. Jagannath and Mr. Satish and sought disciplinary action against them.
“We submitted a memorandum at the office of the Police Commissioner as the latter was busy in a meeting,” Mr. Katipalla said. The police had already taken statement of Mr. Kumar in the hospital, he added.
However, Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said he was yet to receive the memorandum but said action would be taken after it was filed. The SFI and the DYFI had planned a State-wide protest condemning the action of the police from Tuesday.
