A case of “high-handedness” of Uttar Pradesh Police came to light on Monday when a 53-year-old schoolteacher in Agra tweeted for urgent help after some policemen allegedly hurled abuses at her and her family members for making a video of them “beating those violating the lockdown”.
Deepti Saraswat, a teacher at St. Felix Nursery School, wrote in her tweet that she was having tea with her doctor husband, currently posted at a COVID hospital in Aligarh and under home quarantine after active duty, in the first-floor balcony of her residence when they saw some policemen abusing two elderly persons on scooters on the road in front of their house.
“We were seeing this happening since 6.30 a.m. as policemen were rebuking and abusing anyone who was on road. Within no time, SHO [Ajay Kaushal] and Assistant Superintendent of Police [of] Hariparavat [Saurabh Dixit] appeared on the scene. The SHO got down from his jeep and started beating the two persons who were asking for mercy. My instinct forced me to record it on my mobile,” read her tweet.
When the policemen saw her recording the incident, they allegedly started hurling abuses and ordered her to come down. She claimed the SHO entered her house, asked for her cell phone and deleted the six-second-long video. “ASP Saurabh Dixit publicly shouted at us and asked us to behave,” she tweeted.
Speaking to The Hindu, Ms. Saraswat said she was made to feel as if she had committed a crime. “I was recording the video to show it to my son, who was insisting on going out for some work, that how the police were behaving even with people who were wearing masks. The moment they objected, I stopped. One could hear my voice saying: achcha nahin banati (Okay, let it be). I had no intention to capture how they were harassing people as it was a common sight during the lockdown.” She said she knew the area was a containment zone as a COVID positive case was found within one km.
‘Felt humiliated’
“The police were working under pressure but it didn’t give them a right to humiliate me publicly. Even if the SHO wanted to erase the video, he could have done it as he had entered our house without permission and forced me to give him my phone. But he made me come to the open balcony to make a show of it. The ASP [Saurabh Dixit] abused my son who had also come out. It pains me that we invited him as a chief guest to our school’s annual day this year,” she said.
Ms. Saraswat said she spoke to the wife of Senior Superintendent of Police Babloo Kumar. “I have taught their son. She said the police officers should not have behaved the way they did. But I am yet to receive any call from her husband or any other senior officer. All I want is an apology.”
The episode has left her shaken. “I teach children to become good citizens but such misuse of power has forced me to question my teaching methodology.”
Superintendent of Police (City) Rohan Pramod Botre said he has taken note of the tweet. “We will listen to both sides and take necessary action. Today [Monday], we were busy with the transportation of migrant labourers, tomorrow I will speak to her,” he said.