Policeman who savagely baton-charged youths in Saptari suspended

SAPTARI, March 31: An Armed Police Force (APF) head constable who savagely baton-charged two youths returning home after buying goods in Balan Bihul rural municipality in Saptari district has been suspended.

The video of the policeman beating the two local residents Hare Krishna Sah and Chandra Yadav who carrying daily use stuff including medicine on a bicycle had gone viral on social networks, which had drawn public attention toward police department’s behavior on the people during the nationwide lockdown.

“The fact that Armed Police are oblivious to their job description—to protect lives and provide security to the Nepali citizens—is evident in the way their actions have been imperiling the lives of the public. The arbitrary use of force in the garb of ‘controlling’ public not to come out of their houses, the situation points to an alarming rise of police brutality in most of the places,” said a social media used on Facebook, according to him, the two were seriously injured due to the brutal beating and torture and thus were taken to a nearby health post by the villagers.

According to the APF, the misbehaving head constable Manoj Chaudhary has been suspended while constable Keshav Thapa Magar has been taken to headquarter Rajbiraj for interrogation. They both were deployed from APF Nepal border outpost Ramnagar Kedarkatti.

But SP Uddhav Neupane said the police had warned the two youths not to bring goods from India during the lockdown for two days, reported onlinekhabar.

“I agree that constable committed a mistake. But we had warned the youths not to bring goods from India. After they defied the orders, our constables lost their cool,” the online portal said quoting Neupane. “They used to smuggle goods from India before the lockdown as well.”

This is not the only example of police cruelty toward the public. A video of two policemen striking a man riding a bicycle in Nepalgunj had gone viral on social media five days ago.

Another video also showed police making two youths get down on all fours and charging them with sticks on their backs in Kathmandu also raised questions on how the police are treating the lockdown.