Six Railway Police Officers Suspended in Madhya Pradesh After Assault Video Surfaces

The Madhya Pradesh government suspended six Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel, including a station in-charge, after a video of them beating a woman and her grandson in Katni district went viral. The incident occurred in October last year. The opposition Congress claimed the victims were Dalit and staged a sit-in protest for nearly five hours at a police station in Katni, demanding an FIR against the accused.

Congress Demands Action

State Congress president Jitu Patwari criticised the BJP government led by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav for its treatment of the Dalit community. "Six policemen were suspended and they will face problems in their jobs as we will go to the court against them. Congress is warning officials not to work as agents of the ruling party. They should work according to the rule book," Patwari said, claiming that the FIR was registered only after the Congress protested.

Earlier, the accused GRP personnel were taken off field duty, and Chief Minister Yadav announced on X that he had ordered their suspension based on a preliminary probe. The suspended officers include station in-charge Aruna Vahne, head constable Ajay Shrivastava, constables Shoaib Abbasi, Salman Khan, Omkar Sirsam, and woman constable Varsha Dube.

Incident Details

Superintendent of Police GRP Simala Prasad confirmed that the incident took place in October 2023. A person named Deepak Vanshkar, with 19 cases against him and who was absconding, had his family members called to the police station for questioning. The video of this questioning went viral. Cases had also been registered against the woman and minor in Katni.

The video showed a woman in civil dress -- in-charge of the GRP station -- beating up a woman and a boy in a room. Later, other personnel in uniform joined her in thrashing the duo. "Chief Minister Mohan Yadavji, will you tell us what is happening in Madhya Pradesh? Under the pretext of maintaining law and order, your police department is indulging in hooliganism and is hell-bent on taking the lives of people," said the opposition party on X.

Protest and Investigation

On Thursday, Patwari and state Congress media department chairman Mukesh Nayak visited Katni to meet Kusum Vanskar, the victim woman, and her grandson. They narrated to reporters how they were beaten with sticks at the police station. Patwari asked Kusum Vanskar if she wanted an FIR registered against the cops, to which she nodded yes. The Congress leaders then accompanied her to the police station and staged a sit-in until the FIR was registered.

Additional Superintendent of Police Santosh Deharia stated that they had taken the victim's complaint properly. "We have taken it in a proper manner and made an entry in the complaints register and given a receipt to the protesters. An entry was also made in the Rojnamcha daily record register. It has been updated online too," he told reporters.

Legal Proceedings

The accused GRP personnel will record their statements before Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Monica Shukla, who is probing the incident. Further legal action will be taken by the GRP police station based on these statements. Deputy Inspector General Shukla arrived in Katni on Thursday to conduct an investigation into the incident.

The opposition party termed the incident as shameful and questioned how such cruelty could occur under Chief Minister Yadav's administration. "The cruelty with which the Katni Government Railway Police GRP station in-charge beat up the 15-year-old boy and his grandmother from a Dalit family is agonising. From where did they get so much courage to do so? Is it due to your negligence? Have you given them permission to indulge in such acts?"

The investigation aims to determine why the woman and her grandson were treated this way and how official footage of the incident became public. All police personnel visible in the video have been taken off field duty as part of ongoing investigations.

This incident has highlighted concerns about police conduct towards marginalised communities in Madhya Pradesh. The state government’s response will be closely watched as legal proceedings continue.