In Jharkhand's Chatra, Army Man Thrashed by Police For Not Wearing Mask

An Indian Army jawan was beaten up by Jharkhand police personnel ruthlessly in the Chatra district for not wearing a mask. The incident occurred at Karma chowk in the Mayurhund block of the district on Wednesday during a mask-checking drive conducted by the police. Later in the day, the videos of the incident went viral on social media, sparking anger among the users. Following the outrage by locals and social media users over the incident, action was taken against five policemen.

Three policemen, who thrashed the Army jawan with sticks, were suspended and disciplinary action was taken against the other two officials. The action was taken against them after officials submitted a probe report on the incident to the Chatra Superintendent of Police’s (SP) office.

The army jawan was identified as Pawan Kumar Yadav, a resident of Arabhusai village in Katkamsandi block in Hazaribag district of Jharkhand.

The videos that went viral on social media showed the army man was being thrashed, kicked, and slapped by a group of policemen at Karma chowk.

The police personnel were conducting a mask-checking drive in the area. Yadav arrived at Karma chowk on his bike. Policemen stopped him saying he was not wearing a mask and hence he has been stopped. Later, a policeman removed the key of his bike, to which the army man protested strongly. This led to police personnel beating the army man, who fell on the ground and the policemen kept beating him.

A viral video of the incident shows that many police personnel, who assaulted the army man, were themselves not wearing masks. According to media reports, BDO Saket Sinha, who was in charge of the drive, was present on the incident spot, but he decided to remain a mute spectator. After the intervention of locals, Yadav was taken to the Mayurhand police station.

Following the investigation report submitted by DSP Kedar Ram, Chatra SP Rakesh Ranjan suspended the three accused policemen and attached two personnel to the police line.

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