Madhya Pradesh: Woman, minor beaten by police, probe ordered after video of incident surfaces

The authorities in Madhya Pradesh’s Katni district are investigating a video dating back to October in which Government Railway Police officials can be seen beating up a woman and a minor boy.

In the video, a plain-clothed woman police officer is first seen beating the woman and boy in a closed room. A few uniformed personnel later join her in hitting them.

Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari claimed that the woman and the boy were Dalits. The party identified the woman as Kusum Vanshkar and the minor as her grandson.

After the video was widely circulated on social media on Wednesday, the officer in charge of the police station where the incident allegedly occurred was removed from her post. An official of the rank of deputy superintendent of police was directed to investigate the matter.

“Under the unjust Bharatiya Janata Party rule, Dalits in Madhya Pradesh are forced to live a life of fear,” Patwari said on social media. “If the chief minister [Mohan Yadav] cannot ensure the safety of people in the state, he should resign.”

ANI quoted the woman as saying that the Government Railway Police officials beat her up after inquiring about the whereabouts of her son, who is wanted in several criminal cases.

“I told them that I did not know, you should catch him and do whatever you want,” she said. “They took me to the station, interrogated me and then closed the windows and door and started beating with plastic pipe. My grandson was with me, they took him somewhere else to beat him.”

The woman said she had complained about the incident at the collector’s office.

The Jabalpur superintendent of police (railway) said that the woman and her grandson are relatives of a “notorious criminal” named Deepak Vanshkar, who is absconding with 19 cases against him. A reward of Rs 10,000 has been announced for information leading to his capture.