Gurugram: Days after a station house officer (SHO) was arrested in Haryana’s Palwal town for custodial torture of a Muslim man taken into custody by him in a petty dispute, cow vigilantes and members of Hindutva outfits have launched a protest demanding his release.
Led by self-proclaimed cow vigilante Bittu Bajrangi, who is an accused in the Nuh violence case, this set of protesters claim that inspector Radhey Shyam Sharma has been targeted for his anti-cattle smuggling stance.
The case is from December when the inspector allegedly beat Mohammed Abid, a resident of Sangod village in Rajasthan’s Kota district, forced him to consume chilli paste, and injected it into his private parts.
The inspector has faced accusations of brutality in the past, ThePrint has learnt. Sources within the Palwal police said that Sharma was under scrutiny for similar misconduct in the past. Three arrested accused in a cyber fraud case have alleged physical assault by Sharma, they said, adding that a departmental inquiry was still pending.
As for the complainant in the Palwal case, Abid alleged that he was subjected to inhumane treatment by the inspector while in custody at the Palwal city police station. An FIR (First Information Report) was registered at the same police station against the inspector following a formal complaint lodged by 32-year-old Abid.
The FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Sections 110, 118(2), 123, 124(1), and 198 for attempt to commit culpable homicide, causing grievous hurt, causing hurt by means of poison or other harmful substance, voluntary causing hurt by acid etc, and a public servant disobeying law to cause injury to a person.
According to the complaint, Abid had travelled to Palwal on 5 December, 2024, with his friend Karim Khan to provide massage services to a client.
A dispute arose when the client, Rambir, refused to pay Rs 12,000 for services rendered to his paralysed father. The situation escalated, and Rambir called the police, leading to Abid’s detention.
Abid’s complaint details a chilling account of torture. He alleged that Sharma took him to a restroom at the police station, stripped him, tied his hands and legs, and beat him mercilessly. Sharma allegedly forced Abid to drink a paste of green chilies and injected the same solution into his private parts. “The pain was unbearable, and I was humiliated beyond words,” Abid stated in his complaint.
The allegations were substantiated by CCTV footage, as well as by statements of various people, including some policemen.
Following the complaint, SP Chander Mohan ordered an immediate inquiry. The probe concluded on 16 April and found Sharma guilty of custodial violence.
Inspector General, Rewari Range, Ashok Kumar promptly suspended Sharma on the same day, and he was arrested three days later. Sharma was produced in a city court and sent to judicial custody. “The law is equal for all. No one, regardless of their position, can misuse their authority and escape justice,” Palwal SP Chander Mohan had told the media.
Sharma was a known figure in the vigilante and Right-wing circles given his previous role as in charge of the Special Cow Protection Task Force in the Muslim majority district of Nuh.
On Monday, members of Bajrang Dal, Gau Raksha Dal, and other Hindutva outfits gathered at Tau Devi Lal Park in Palwal to protest the arrest of the suspended SHO.
The suspension, according to Bajrangi, was done under “political pressure” of people like Congress MLA from Nuh, Aftab Ahmed. He warned that if Sharma is not released by the coming Sunday (27 April), 200–250 supporters would block National Highway-19 at Agra Chowk and hold large-scale protests.
A vegetable vendor, Bajrangi is the founder of a fringe outfit, Gau Raksha Bajrang Force. The portly built, middle-aged man portrays himself as a self-styled gau rakshak (cow protector) and is known for opposition to “love jihad” and “religious conversions”.
The outfits, meanwhile, submitted a memorandum to Palwal MLA and Haryana Sports Minister Gaurav Gautam demanding the SHO’s immediate release and the transfer of Palwal Superintendent of Police Chander Mohan.
On his part, Gautam assured the Right-wing outfits that “the government belonged to them and their demand would be addressed”. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been ruling Haryana since 2014.
On Monday night, Chander Mohan was shifted from Palwal and was posted as SP, Telecom, a relatively insignificant post.
(Edited by Tony Rai)