The Tribune, September 1, 1999
People demonstrate against police
From Our Correspondent
SONEPAT, Aug 31 — A large number of inhabitants of Anandpur Jharot and other nearby villages held a demonstration and blocked traffic on the Sonepat-Rohtak road for about three hours today in protest against the alleged confinement and sodomy of a young jeep driver by a police officer on the premises of the Kharkhauda police station in this district last night.
According to official sources, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr R. Selvraj has placed the officer involved in the case under suspension and ordered registration of a criminal case under Sections 342 (confinement) and 377 (unnatural offence) of the Indian Penal Code. As soon as the police official in question got this information he fled. The police has launched a manhunt to apprehend him.
Enquiries made by this correspondent revealed that the youth, Matinder Singh, alias Mitu (19), a resident of Anandpur Jharot village, was employed as a driver on a jeep owned by a resident of Rohat village. The Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Mukesh Kumar, commandeered the jeep yesterday for patrolling and allied duties and used the jeep throughout the day. Around 10.30 at night, the ASI along with a head constable and a constable went to a hotel, where they consumed alcohol and forced the youth to drink with them.
After this, the driver drove the jeep towards the police station to drop the ASI off. The ASI entered the police station, and asked the youth to come inside. He was taken to a room and sodomised. The youth passed out and woke up only in the morning.
When the youth reached his house he told his parents of the incident. The enraged inhabitants immediately assembled on the main Sonepat-Rohtak road and blocked.
They demanded immediate action against the culprits and shouted slogans against the police. The police succeeded in lifting the blockade traffic.
But the inhabitants of Jharot, Rohat and some other villages again blocked the road and did not allow any vehicle of pass through.
As soon as news of the incident spread around Kharkhauda town, a large number of transport operators too assembled and blocked the road between Kharkhauda and Pili village. It was only after residents learnt of the action taken against the ASI that they lifted the blockade.
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