During the wee hours on May 18, a businessman named Amit Jindal, from Sec-11, Rohini was coming back home. The time was around 1-1:30 a.m and Amit’s car barged into the motorbike of policemen (180 CC, a yellow colour Pulsar) and they fell down. He went over with an intention of helping them but the policemen allegedly started beating him instead. Two other policemen were also called and he was allegedly taken to the Prashant Vihar Police Station in Rohini.
Inside the police station, Amit was beaten up by the police and around 2:30 am in the morning, he was taken to Ambedkar Hospital for his medico-legal case (MLC) and alcohol test. By that time, he did not have a lot of injury marks and the MLC came clean. He was then taken back to the police station and beaten up severely in the room next to that of the SHO and this has even been recorded in the CCTV camera. He was then taken to another room with no CCTV and tortured for around half an hour and around 6-7 am in the morning, he was allowed to call his family who then came to the police station and ₹1 lakh was demanded of them. After ₹ 60,000 was paid to an inspector, Amit was allowed to go home at around 8 am in the morning.
Amit, who was still in shock, told his family about the torture on May 19 and was taken for an MLC on May 20, where the reports showed that he had nine severe injuries and one fracture. A case was filed against the accused policemen, which include, 3 inspectors, a constable and the SHO, SS Rathi. An ACP, Dinesh Sharma, was appointed to the family and he was to submit his report by May 22. In his report, he, in turn, blamed the family for being late by one day in filing the case. The Jindal family was constantly threatened to drop the case and was even offered ₹10 lakh for the same, as told by Amit’s younger brother Parinay Jindal. On the evening of May 23, there were massive protests against the police outside the Prashant Vihar Police Station. Following the protests, four policemen were suspended on May 24 and the SHO was suspended on May 26.
Taking part in the protests, more people came forward to stand against the brutality of the police and tell their own stories. On May 6, a 20-year-old boy, Manoj Kumar, living in Razapur village of Rohini, was severely beaten up by the policemen of the Prashant Vihar Station and his ear drum has been permanently damaged as a result of the beating.
Police tried their best to suppress the voice of the Jindal family. They were even offered money but they refused to back down. This took serious courage from the family to stand up against the atrocities of the police and become an example for others. As of now, the 5 men have been suspended but further actions should be taken against them.
_