Two videos of a man being beaten by police personnel from Bengaluru with a hockey stick and a lathi have gone viral on social media. In the first video, two police constables in civilian clothes are seen pinning a suspect down with their legs while sub inspector of Subramanya Nagar police station Sreekante Gowda beats him with a hockey stick. The hockey stick snaps into two as Sreekante Gowda beats the man on the soles of his feet.
In another video, the two constables are seen holding a rod to which the man’s legs are tied, and he's held upside down. Sreekante Gowda is seen beating the man on the soles of his feet with a lathi and saying "Tell, tell", even as the man screams for mercy. “I swear I didn’t do anything,” the man screams.
The incident occurred at the Subramanya Nagar Police Station in May this year. However, the video went viral on WhatsApp on Thursday afternoon.
Speaking to TNM, Deputy Commissioner of Police North N Shashikumar said that the man in the video is 26-year-old Yashwanth, who was arrested by SI Sreekante Gowda for allegedly sexually harassing, stalking and threatening to rape his co-worker.
DCP Shashikumar says that Yashwanth who works as a technician, repairs air conditioning units at the World Trade Centre in Malleshwaram. “His co-worker, a 20-year-old woman, used to distribute parking tickets. The woman’s mother also worked with her. Yashwanth had been stalking her and harassing her. He was forcing her to marry him. She kept rejecting him. Finally, she quit her job too because of Yashwanth. He still kept harassing her so she had filed a complaint in May,” DCP Shashikumar said.
Yashwanth allegedly threatened to rape the woman if she did not marry him after which the police had brought him in for questioning. DCP Shashikumar says that Yashwanth allegedly misbehaved with the police and threatened to throw acid on the woman’s face once he got out of prison.
“It was at this juncture that he was beaten. Whatever the reason, what happened was not acceptable. I have asked ACP of Malleshwaram to file a report after which a decision will be made regarding the action that we have to take against Sreekante Gowda,” DCP Shashikumar said.
Yashwanth is currently lodged at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, where he is awaiting trial, the DCP added.
“No matter what grave offense, it is not acceptable to assault suspects in custody. We will take action once the inquiry report is submitted. DCP will submit the report to me in a couple of days,” Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao told TNM.