JOIN USYouth dies three days after being allegedly manhandled by cops for not wearing Covid-19 mask
A 26-year-old man died three days after he jumped off a police jeep allegedly because he was manhandled by the cops for not wearing a mask as Covid-19 precaution.
The incident occurred on Saturday in Chirala town of Andhra Pradesh. Y Kiran Kumar succumbed to his head injuries on Tuesday night.
The state government has ordered a police enquiry into the case while announcing a Rs 10 lakh compensation to the family of the man belonging to the Scheduled Caste.
On Saturday night, Kumar had come out with a friend Shiny Abraham on a two-wheeler. The police stopped them at a checkpoint and questioned the duo, said to be in an inebriated state, for not wearing a mask in a place registering several Covid-19 cases. Following their altercation with the constables, Chirala II-town Sub Inspector Vijay Kumar reached the spot and took them into custody.
District police officials said that while the two were being taken to the police station, Kumar jumped off the moving jeep, fell on the road and suffered head injuries.
Kumar was first taken to a local government hospital and then to the Government General Hospital in Guntur. As his condition was deteriorating, he was later shifted to a private hospital where he died Tuesday late night.
Kumar’s family attributed the death to police excesses. Kumar’s father Mohan Rao alleged that the police did not respond immediately when his son was hurt and bleeding profusely.
“If he is intoxicated, as parents, we should have been informed. Why did the police inside the jeep not restrain if my son was behaving under alcohol influence?” Rao questioned.
TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh charged the police “for the death of the Dalit youth.” “Just for not wearing a mask, the police attacked him leading to his eventual death.”
Chirala incident follows the Seethanagaram episode where one SC youth was allegedly assaulted, tonsured in a police station in the East Godavari district.
Telugu Desam Party chief and opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu has charged the involvement of YSRCP men in Monday’s “tonsure incident”. Naidu said the man was humiliated as he had questioned the illegal sand mining in the region.