Three traffic constables suspended for assaulting woman officer

LUCKNOW - Three traffic constables roughed up a woman police officer after she caught them extorting money from truck drivers and dragged her for around a kilometre-and-a-half while fleeing in their car in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district, police said Friday.

The three constables, who are absconding, have been suspended while an aide has been nabbed. The officer was injured in the incident Thursday evening, but is out of danger.

The three constables have been identified. Two of them are named Ravindra while the third is Manoj. Superintendent of Police City Rakesh Jolly said: “Two are Ravindra and one is Manoj.” Only their first names were known so far.

Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Kalpana Saxena caught the three extorting money from truck drivers near a crossing in Bareilly, some 300 km from Lucknow. When she accosted them, they tried to flee in their car. She managed to grab one of them by his collar, but the others rolled up the car window and drove off. Saxena was dragged for some distance and sustained injuries.

“Investigations revealed that the three constables were accompanied by a civilian named Dharmendra, who was also involved in the crime,” Jolly told IANS on telephone from Bareilly.

According to Jolly, Dharmendra is a tempo driver and “brother of one of the three cops”.

Saxena, who received multiple injuries when dragged by the car, is out of danger.

“She has been discharged from hospital,” said Station House Officer (SHO) of cantonment police station Dharmendra Chauhan.

When attempts were made to contact Saxena on her official mobile phone, the calls were responded by a policeman, who said: “Madam (Saxena) is taking rest as per directions of the doctor… She will contact you later.”

However, before she was discharged from the hospital, she spoke to some reporters.

“The three (constables) tried to crush me under the vehicle… But I managed to survive… I managed to catch the constable, who was driving the car… They dragged me for around one-kilometre-and a half,” Saxena told reporters.

According to police, acting on a tip-off that traffic constables were extorting money along the Lucknow-Bareilly Highway, Saxena reached the spot and found the three constables accepting money.

According to Chauhan: “The SP (Traffic) in her statement has said the three constables even tried to knock her down with the car in which they escaped. A case under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from duty) and 333 (attempt to murder), has been registered against the three policemen.”

“As Saxena approached the cops to question them, they assaulted her and tried to escape in a car. She managed to catch one of them by his collar, following which the other two constables inside the car pulled up the window pane of the vehicle, as a result the SP’s hand got stuck in the window,” Chauhan said.

The incident has raised security concern among the residents of Bareilly.

“If a SP rank officer is assaulted by police, you can very well understand what police personnel can do with the common man,” Alok Kumar, a resident of Izzatnagar area, told IANS on telephone.

Echoing similar sentiments Vidit Kumar, a student of BBA, said: “Police atrocities are not new in our state… What’s shocking is that this time a woman police officer was at the receiving end.”

Residents allege that there are several points in Bareilly where entry of heavy vehicles is prohibited, but truck drivers and others manage to ply their vehicles in prohibited areas by bribing the traffic policemen.