(Riya Saha, Intern Journalist)Dumka: The officer-in-charge of Barhait police station was suspended on Monday after a video of him went viral in which he was seen thrashing and abusing a 20-year-old girl in front of other cops on July 22, police said.
In the video, more than half a dozen cops stood in silence as their boss Harish Pathak, in civil clothes, physically assaulted the girl ‘for having an affair with a boy from her locality’.
A few weeks ago, the victim’s mother had lodged an FIR at the said police station against her daughter’s love interest Ramu Mandal and his father, accusing them of kidnapping her, following which, Ramu’s father was detained for questioning, according to police sources.
Later on July 22, the cops summoned the girl for recording her statement. However, when the girl in her statement said she is in love with Ramu, Pathak became livid. He grabbed the girl by her hair and slapped her on the face. He was even heard using expletive-ridden language in the video while thrashing her.
On July 25, the girl wrote to Sahibganj SP Anuranjan Kispotta, narrating her painful experience, however, no action concrete action was taken till the video went viral. The SP, however, said that he had ordered a probe soon after the girl approached him. He added, “I had already directed the Barhwarwa SDPO to look into the allegations.”
The former chief minister and BJP functionary Babulal Marandi dubbed the incident as a failure of law and order in the state. “It appears that the state has slipped into the hands of a draconian policing system that a cop like Harish Pathak is blessed with the post of the officer-in-charge in a police station within the chief minister’s own constituency,” he said.
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