The Ambedkar Nagar police registered a case and arrested five persons on Monday, including women, for allegedly attacking the police and a team of officials from the district administration that had gone to erect a boundary wall in Wazidpur area on Sunday, officers said.
The action was taken after a video of a male police personnel beating up women, many of whom were Dalits, using lathi in Ambedkar Nagar went viral on Sunday, sparking fresh allegations of police brutality in the Yogi Adityanath-ruled state.
The women were reportedly staging a protest on Sunday against the alleged vandalism of a Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar statue in Jalalpur town the previous day. The video also shows cops flogging and hurling abuses at the women and a woman police personnel pulling at the hair of a protester.
The police have denied the allegations. According to the police, the district administration decided to erect a boundary wall after unknown persons threw ink on a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar at the spot two days ago. A few local residents who were allegedly using the land for private purposes were against erecting the wall, they added. The district administration team cleaned up the statue and a case was registered against unknown persons.
On Sunday, a team of nagar nigam officials reached the area to erect the boundary wall when a group of men and women attacked them, officers said.
Police rushed to the spot, but the protesters pelted stones at them and the officials of the district administration. They also damaged vehicles parked on the road.
The situation was controlled after the police used force to disperse the crowd.
Meanwhile, the police claimed that only minor force was used to disperse the crowd. Asked about allegations that the policemen thrashed women protesters, DIG (Ayodhya range) Amrendra PD Singh said it would be looked into during the investigation.
“No one has been arrested yet for vandalising the statue,” the DIG added.
An official said, “We decided to build a boundary wall on the barren land with the intention to turn it into a park.”
On Saturday, a team of officials from the district administration held a meeting with local residents ahead of erecting the wall on Sunday. The protesters, however, alleged that the administration was not building the wall on the entire open stretch, but had left one portion of it, the local police said.
Suddenly, some people started raising slogans against the district administration and the police. It is alleged that when a local resident tried to stop the protesters, women agitators caught and thrashed him. When a woman constable tried to stop them, the women protesters allegedly assaulted her.
Later, an FIR was lodged against unknown protesters on various charges, including rioting and using force to deter public servants from discharging duty.
Meanwhile, a video surfaced from Gorakhpur in which a group of men can be seen causing a ruckus as they vandalise the Chulha Chowk restaurant. The men can be seen and heard hurling abuses at the restaurant staff and then going on to beat them up.
In the video, a group of men can be seen screaming and questioning the manager of the restaurant about something. One of the men from the group can be seen coming behind the counter of the reception and questioning the manager. One from the group can be seen charging toward the manager again. However, he is restrained by his friend from causing more trouble.
The Gorakhpur police took cognisance of the incident and registered a case against the accused. The case has been registered in Ramgarhtal police station and the investigation is underway.