Officer suspended for allegedly stating police beat up lawyer for being 'Muslim'

A police sub-inspector who allegedly said that he and his team beat a lawyer because he appeared to be a Muslim has been suspended by Madhya Pradesh police department. Lawyer Deepak Bundele was brutally thrashed by the police personnel on March 23, while he was on his way to a hospital for receiving treatment.

Bhopal:The Madhya Pradesh police has suspended B S Patel, a sub-inspector in Betul district, for allegedly stating that he and his team beat up a lawyer after mistaking him to be a Muslim. The suspension became effective from Wednesday.

The lawyer, Deepak Bundele, claimed that the police stopped him while he was going to the district hospital in Betul on March 23, shortly after movements were restricted to contain coronavirus. Bundele alleged that the police thrashed him mercilessly before he informed them about his visit to the hospital for treatment.

While talking to ETV Bharat, Bundele said: "I was going to the district hospital on March 23, 2020, when the policemen stopped me. The area was under coronavirus-induced lockdown and there was a restriction on movement. I told them that I am diabetic and was going for receiving treatment at the hospital."

He further said that he tried to convince the police personnel who paid no heed to his arguments.

"Despite my constant attempts at stopping them, they did not hear me out and started beating me brutally. Later when I tried to file a complaint, they instead lodged a complaint against me," he said.

Bundele suffered several injuries in the incident. He further said that after constant efforts over two months, he was granted bail by the Madhya Pradesh High Court in this matter.

"I have been granted bail in the false case that the policemen filed against me. I have faith in the law. One of the accused policemen has also been suspended," he said.

Bundele filed complaints with several authorities, seeking registration of an FIR against the policemen who attacked him. He also filed an RTI application to retrieve the CCTV footage of the incident. However, two months later, he was neither given the CCTV footage nor was an FIR filed.

Investigating officer B S Patel visited Bundele's house on May 17 to record his statement. "The cops mistook you as a member of the minority community due to your beard," Patel allegedly told Bundele.

Bundele then shared an audio clip of the conversation with the local media. Superintendent of Police D S Bhadoriya suspended Patel after the clip was shared widely on social media.

"He allegedly made a comment which should not have been part of the police investigation," Additional Superintendent of Police Shraddha Joshi said.

Muslims have been the target of hate crimes since a congregation of the Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi in March. Many coronavirus cases around the country were attributed to the congregation. Some organisations even moved the Human Rights Commission.

Inputs from IANS