A person, who jumped a signal along with his friend, had to pay a heavy price for getting on the wrong side of the law. The policemen not only mercilessly beat him up, they even refused to register his complaint against their atrocities, he has alleged in a plaint to the Thane Police Commissioner.
Bilal Abdul Qadir Sheikh, a 45-year old fabrication worker from Kalyan, is currently recovering in the Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital after a complicated surgery on his broken humerus bone, only to be arrested soon for allegedly assaulting the same policemen who he claims, thrashed him.
Mr. Sheikh has said the traffic police did not pay any heed to his willingness to pay the fine for breaking rules. He and his friend have been booked under sections 353, 323 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code for using “criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty.” The family members claim that the policemen, who initially accompanied him to the hospitals, later abandoned him after they came to know that his injury was far more serious than they had expected.
The police have denied Mr. Sheikh's allegation that the Kongaon police station refused to register his complaint against the policemen.
On May 2 evening, Mr. Sheikh and Mohsin Nisar Khan were on their way from Kalyan to Bhiwandi on Mohsin's motorcycle. According to their account, they accidentally jumped the signal at Ranjnoli Naka while following the other motorcycles. One of the three traffic police constables present at the signal tried to stop them and took away the key of the motorcycle.
“The cop abused him and called him back. When he asked why he was being abused, the cop caught hold of his collar and slapped him. After that, a scuffle followed. The other two policemen present there saw this and joined the cop in thrashing my brother in full public view. Those who tried to mediate were sternly told to stay away. The cops then took him in the police vehicle and beat him with the rod of the jack, thus fracturing his humerus bone,” Dr. Saalim Abdul Qadir Sheikh, the brother of the victim, told The Hindu .
But the police have a different story to tell. A senior police officer told The Hindu that Mr. Sheikh first manhandled the police which led to the police reaction of using excessive force on him.
When contacted, Thane Police Commissioner K.P. Raghuvanshi said he had ordered a Deputy Commissioner of Police-level inquiry into the matter and that the report would be submitted to him in two days. He said he had not received any written complaint from the family, but had come to know about it from the police station.
The complaint written to the Police Commissioner has alleged that the traffic police constables abused Mr. Sheikh for belonging to the minority community and trying to bully the police.
Meanwhile, social activist Shabnam Hashmi has written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan seeking action against the policemen.
“I am absolutely shocked at the way an ordinary citizen has been brutally attacked for crossing a signal. He was ready to pay the fine for the mistake but Maharashtra police instead decided to thrash him. I request you to kindly immediately take action against the policemen responsible for the act,” she has said in the letter written on May 9.
