Belagavi: A police inspector and three constables have been suspended and a departmental inquiry has been initiated againstan assistant sub-inspector and two women police officers for assaulting women while on duty. The three constables, I.S. Patil, M.G. Kurer and V.D. Babanagar were suspended by the SP.
During the evening patrolling in the city, two innocent women were beaten up mercilessly in full public view on Saturday by a team of police officers who accused them of conspiring to carry out a theft in the area.
On Saturday, police officials surrounded the two women accused of theft and hit them with laths mercilessly even as the two were screaming for help. After the brutal assault was telecast on television channels, the police department soon took action and suspended the officials.
Clarifying on the issue, Belagavi Police Commissioner S. Ravi said that when the officials on duty found that two women were planning to carry out a theft in the locality, they forcibly tried to put the women into police van. When the women refused to get into the van, the officials started hitting them with lathis.
Khadebazaar Inspector U.H. Satenahalli, who too beat up the women, has been suspended and a departmental inquiry has been ordered against Assistant Sub-Inspector M.S .Khangaokar, women constables Bharati Chikkodi and Sumangala Dombar, who were present during the attack.
“The Commissioner should take an stringent action against the rude police officers, mere suspension is not enough”, demanded Members of several women’s organisations, including Spandana, CFAR and Belagavi Integrated Rural Development Society.
