Police officer denied bribe drove motorbike on vegetable vendor's chest

A police officer has been caught on camera riding his motorbike on the chest of a vegetable vendor in Allahabad, northern India, as other policemen and bystanders stood and watched. The incident took place outside the Rambagh railway station. The vendor, Rohit Kesarwani, claims that constable Bechu Singh Yadav had asked him to move his cart and demanded a bribe. He alleges that when he refused, the officer assaulted him, beat him with a stick and threw him to the ground.

The vendor alleges that the officer then rode the front wheel of his bike on his chest. Mohit Rastogi, one of the witnesses, recorded this on his mobile phone. On camera, the vendor is seen lying on the ground wearing only a vest and the police officer holding the motorbike, the front wheel of which is on the vendor’s chest. The photographer also claimed he was asked to delete the picture. He said, “When the cops saw me clicking pictures they started threatening me. They said I should not interfere. But I refused to bow down.”

Despite the visual evidence, the police has said that no such incident took place and that a photographer present there staged the incident for the camera. “There was an argument between the two of them. A photographer, who was also present there, told him to lie down under a motorcycle parked nearby. Then he took photos and leaked them to the media,” said AK Pandey, Superintendent of Police, Allahabad (Crime).

The Allahabad High Court has issued notice to the state government and senior police officials after a Public Interest Litigation was filed on the incident. The police have now begun to take action. The Allahabad Senior Superintendent of Police Mohit Aggarwal said the constable has been suspended and the police is investigating who the other officers present were. Mr Aggarwal promised tough action. The case will come up for hearing on September 5.