Bhubaneswar: Incidents of police caning people and forcing lockdown violators to do sit-ups holding their ears have constantly been in the news. Terming the high-handedness of police as sheer violation of human rights, a petition has recently been filed with the National Human Rights Commission here.
Police asked Wednesday three bikers to do sit-ups in the middle of the road in Sahid Nagar locality. The cops forced them to sit on the scorching road before allowing them to go. Similarly, some violators were made to kneel down in another part of the state capital. In Bolangir and Bhawanipatna, police caned locals who were returning home on their bicycles carrying groceries.
CLAP Legal Service Institute president, Bikash Das has termed these incidents as violations of human rights and has filed a petition with the NHRC.
“The government has permitted people to go out during lockdown to buy essential commodities from markets. So people are going out. But police instead of giving them a chance to explain are caning them mercilessly and forcing them to do sit-ups. Police can take action against the lockdown violators as per law, but on their own cannot punish them,” Das observed.
Das has appealed to the NHRC to investigate the matter and stop police ‘atrocities’.
PNN