The police harassed the victim
A man from a village died of a heart attack due to police misconduct at Barela Police Station in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. The incident took place when the police called Benilal Patel to the police station for questioning in connection with a dispute during Ganesh Visaran. After reaching the police station, the police officers used abusive language and threatened him, due to which Benilal suffered a heart attack and died.
Police immediately rushed Benilal to a private hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. However, villagers say Benilal Patel died at the police station before reaching the hospital. The entire incident of attack on Benilal in the police station was captured in the CCTV cameras installed in the police station.
There was a quarrel with the neighbors
In fact, the entire incident took place on September 18, when Benilal Patel, a resident of Patpara Devari in Barela, and his neighbors had a fight during Ganesh Visharan. A complaint was registered at the police station. Two days after the incident i.e. late evening on 20th September, the police called Benilal and his two sons for questioning, where instead of taking action against the other party, the police started pressurizing the victim and started using abusive language. Shubham, son of the deceased, said that he and my brother were made to sit inside and the police station in-charge abused my father a lot using vulgar language. The family alleges that he was mistreated at the police station, which led to his heart attack.
What was seen in the CCTV footage?
The CCTV footage shows that the deceased Benilal Patel is seen sitting on a table inside the police station. By the time policemen present at the police station picked him up and took him to a government hospital, he had stopped breathing, but his family members rushed him to a private hospital in Jabalpur, where a doctor declared him brought dead during a checkup.
The family members of the deceased and the villagers protested against the police action on the Jabalpur-Raipur National Highway. Enraged people blocked the road and burnt tyres. The protesters are demanding strict action against the TI of Barela police station. SP Aditya Pratap Singh and senior administration officials reached the spot to bring the situation under control and heavy police force has been deployed to prevent the situation from escalating.
Now, after the initial tension, the police have sent the body to the medical college for postmortem after explaining to the villagers. The administration has assured justice to the family of the deceased and the matter is being thoroughly investigated. Superintendent of Police Aditya Pratap Singh says that the whole matter is being investigated seriously and strict action will be taken against whoever is guilty.
