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Man falls into river after UP police officer kicks him, video goes viral
An embarrassed police department had to order a departmental inquiry into the incident involving the station house officer of Vindhyachal Kotwali police station in Mirzapur. The officer’s name is reported to be Sheshdhar Pandey.
A video, showing an Uttar Pradesh police personnel kicking a bystander watching an ongoing search operation at a Ganga ghat in Mirzapur resulting in the man falling into the river, has gone viral with netizens raising questions on the conduct of police personnel in the state.
An embarrassed police department had to order a departmental inquiry into the incident involving the station house officer of Vindhyachal Kotwali police station in Mirzapur. The officer’s name is reported to be Sheshdhar Pandey.
The inquiry was ordered after the incident invited condemnation from political fronts including the Bahujan Jagriti Manch of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
“This is how Mirzapur Police kicks the helpless from behind. A man standing near Ganga was kicked by the Kotwal (station incharge). The youth fell into river Ganga,” a tweet from the organisation’s official handle said.
A statement released by the Mirzapur police, however, defended Pandey’s behavior and claimed that he was only trying to enforce social distancing at the river bank, where a crowd had gathered to watch an ongoing search operation for the body of a man who had drowned in the river some time ago, according to a news report in the Print.
It added that Pandey was only trying to nudge the man, which threw him off balance, resulting in the fall.
A tweet by the Mirzapur police later claimed that the SHO had been served a warning and an initial inquiry in the incident has been ordered.
“The station house officer of Vindhyachal was served a warning over the incident and a senior police officer has been asked to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the matter,” a tweet from Mirzapur Police’s official handle claimed.
Uttar Pradesh police has recently been under scrutiny in Vikas Dubey encounter case and also in the murder case of a scribe in Ghaziabad. While it is accused of human rights violations by allegedly conducting a fake encounter in the first case, in the latter, it is under the spotlight for alleged inaction against local goons leading to murder of a journalist.
