JOIN USA 22-year-old youth from Manipur was allegedly beaten up by two policemen who mistook him to be a protesting civil services aspirant in north Delhi’s Gandhi Vihar on Thursday.
The victim’s right hand fingers were broken by the police. He was treated at Sant Parmanand Hospital in Civil Lines.
Security has been tightened in the area due to protests by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants demanding scrapping of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).
As many as 10 protesters were arrested by the police on Thursday on charges of rioting, assault on a public servant and damage to public property.
The victim’s cousin, however, told Deccan Herald that he was not among the protesters and was attacked while returning home from a friend’s house.
The victim has been identified as W Sankhil, a former Delhi University student, who hails from Manipur’s Chandel district. He had left home at around 9:30 pm to visit a friend in the neighbourhood.
“Sankhil was returning home at about 11:30 pm when he was attacked by the two policemen,” Sankhil’s cousin Thomson told Deccan Herald.
The policemen allegedly accused Sankhil of being involved in the protest and told him to prove otherwise. He was then taken to a nearby park and allegedly beaten up with batons.
“Sankhil sustained finger fractures and injury on his right hand while trying to save himself from the beating. He somehow managed to flee from
the spot after which we took him to hospital,” Thomson added.
Police say sorry
On Friday, Thomson visited Timarpur police station and demanded registration of an FIR. However, he took back the complaint after Assistant Commissioner of Police (Civil Lines) and Timarpur SHO met Sankhil and apologised for the incident.
“We went to meet the victim to confirm the sequence of events but we found it difficult to understand what he was saying. The man has sustained minor injuries, but in our defence we can only say that security was tightened in the area due to which our men were told to keep strict vigil,” the ACP (Civil Lines) said.
As no case was filed, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Madhur Verma told Deccan Herald that he was not aware of the incident.
Following the police crackdown on UPSC aspirants late on Wednesday, scores of students had held demonstrations in the area on Thursday.