Hubballi: Dharwad Superintendent of Police, Dharmender Kumar Meena, on Tuesday denied that the police had assaulted women after barging into their homes when searching for those responsible for setting fire to government offices in Navalgund during the recent Mahadayi stir.
While acknowledging that the policemen had forced their way into several houses in Yamanur, Navalgund taluk in the aftermath of the arson, the SP claimed they were provoked to do so after several villagers, including women, manhandled a police sub-inspector after stopping his jeep while he was on his way to attend his duties in Navalgund.
“Two constables were also beaten up by the villagers in Yamanur two days previously. This provoked the policemen to barge into houses. But they did not attack women,” the officer asserted, conceding that “one or two mistakes may have happened."
Rubbishing reports of the police assaulting pregnant woman, he called them concocted stories and maintained that the police had not detained a single woman although several had stoned the PSI’s jeep and blocked the road.
The villagers, for their part, claimed the women had reason to be angry as the police had beaten up and arrested two youth from Yamanur village for setting fire to government offices in Navalgund. The women joined the men in staging a dharna and blocking the highway to demand their release, according to them.
