MEDIA PORTRAYED ME AS GOONDA BUT I’LL KEEP RAISING ISSUES: MLA

BJP MLA Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, who drew flak for publicly humiliating woman IPS officer Charu Nigam, accused the media of portraying him as a “goonda” when he opposed police action against women and children.

Addressing media persons here on Monday, Agarwal said: “The pain of the victims of police action is no less than that of the woman IPS officer. I am deeply saddened by the way media portrayed me as a goonda lawmaker in the last 24 hours but neglected the voice of women who were beaten up by the police.”

The BJP legislator presented before the media an 8-year-old boy, Prince, his mother Asha, five-month pregnant Seema and an elderly woman Phoola Devi, 70, who were allegedly beaten up by the police during a protest against liquor shops in their locality.

Prince accused Nigam of snatching him away from his mother and throwing him in a pit during the antiliquor agitation on Sunday.

Seema said the woman cop kicked her in the abdomen and back. Phoola, 70, also accused the police of beating her. “I respect you all (media) but tell me who will be the voice of the pregnant woman who was kicked in her abdomen by the police and the boy who beaten up?” asked Agarwal.

Talking to HT, general secretary of UP IPS Association Prakash D refused to comment on the IPS officer’s Facebook post but said the association had sought a detailed report of the incident from the field officers in Gorakhpur.

“We will raise the issue on the appropriate forum,” he said.

Meanwhile, Agarwal accused the media of distorting facts.

“The local people had launched an agitation demanding the closure of liquor outlet. The police used force on the agitators injuring some of them. I went to the spot to register protest against the police action and to support the public movement. The media is highlighting the incident as a tiff between a police officer an MLA,” he said.

Refuting the MLA’s charges, Nigam said the police did not beat up anyone. “I sustained injuries when women attacked me. Aggarwal manhandled me and refused to treat me as a police officer. The SP City, who came to my rescue, showed him my injuries to back our claim that the protesters attacked us. Still, he insulted me publicly,” she said.

A UP IPS Association delegation, including its president Parveen Singh, secretary Prakash D and member Aparna Kumar, met chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar to draw his attention toward the alleged misbehaviour with ASP Charu Nigam in Gorakhpur while she was on duty.

The association demanded strict action against the ‘anti-social elements’ who misbehaved with Nigam. It urged the chief secretary to take required measures to check repeat of such incidents.

Later IG (Law and Order) Hari Ram Sharma said an FIR had been registered against unnamed persons in the case. Police has started probe and action will be taken against the culprits, he said.