Chhattisgarh cops parade accused in police woman’s assault case in undergarments

Chitrasen Sao was the sixth person to be arrested by the police in connection with the December 27 violence

RAIPUR: A man arrested for his alleged role in the assault of a woman police constable during a protest against a coal mine in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district was cuffed, his face blackened and paraded in his undergarments by the police, sparking sharp criticism on social media after a video of the incident surfaced.

Chitrasen Sahu being paraded by the police in connection with the assault on a woman police personnel who was assaulted by a group of people during an anti-mining protest. (ANI Video Grab)

Among those who frowned at the police action was former Chhattisgarh director general of police (DGP) RK Vij. “Making the accused wear a garland of shoes and slippers, and taking him out in a procession with handcuffs, both are completely wrong,” said Vij, who was a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer (1988 batch) and stepped down as DGP in December 2021.

Raigarh superintendent of police (SP) Divyang Patel did not respond to calls and messages to seek his reaction to the incident.

The man seen in viral videos, Chitrasen Sao, was the sixth person to be arrested by the police in connection with the December 27 violence during an anti-mine protest when a policewoman was assaulted by the protesters. A video clip of the December 27 incident showed two men tearing clothes of a police woman, the woman begging for mercy and the men questioning why she was at the site.

Fresh videos circulating on social media showed Chitrasen Sao being pulled out of a police vehicle near Hemu Kalani Chowk and marched on foot, with his hands cuffed, to Chakradhar Nagar police station by a group of women police personnel. He is seen wearing only his undergarments while some personnel allegedly blackened his face, applied lipstick, made him wear bangles and a garland of shoes.

HT cannot verify the authenticity of the videos.

In subsequent visuals, some women police personnel are seen celebrating by cutting a cake and bursting firecrackers after Sao was sent to judicial custody.

Raipur-based RTI activist Kunal Shukla said he had submitted a complaint to the Chhattisgarh high court and would file a petition. The treatment of the accused was “brutal and inhuman”, he said, describing it as a gross violation of human rights and a serious blow to the rule of law.