A CPIML team visited Gondapur village in Maharajganj Thana on 16 March and spoke with the women injured in an incident of the police brutality as well as with other villagers.
The Maharajganj police who had come to implement a Goonda Act notice entered homes and beat up women, seriously injuring Ranjana, Pushpa, Priya and Priyanka who had to be admitted in the zonal hospital for two days. The house of Pushpa, against whose family there is no case, was damaged and doors, tin shed and hand pump were broken. What is astonishing is that despite the presence of women police it was male police who beat up the women. When the victim women went to the Thana on 15 March to ask for a probe into the incident and punishment for the guilty police personnel, they were scolded and chased away.
This incident is symptomatic of the violence against women and the poor that is currently rampant across Uttar Pradesh, and the anti-poor character of the government, police and administration. The Police Raj established under the Yogi regime is dangerous for democracy.
The CPIML team demanded a free and fair probe into the entire incident and a case registered against the Maharajganj Thana incharge and other police personnel who attacked and beat up the women. The CPIML team comprised Om Prakash Singh, Ramjeet Prajapati and Ramsundar.
