Woman dies of illness after cops detain man bringing her medicine

BAREILLY: At 9 pm on Tuesday night, Manik Das, 24, left his house in a hurry. His sister-inlaw, Parvati was unwell and her condition had deteriorated in the evening.

Das told her that he was going out to bring her some medicine and arrange a vehicle to take her to the government hospital. But, the moment he left the house, he was arbitrarily detained by a Dial 100 police team.

“I pleaded to them that my sister-in-law is unwell and needs urgent medical attention, but they refused to budge and kept moving the vehicle,” said Manik.

The police team kept moving from one place to another all night before finally dropping him near a canal at 4 am. Manik’s brother, Ratan Das was not at home when this happened.

After being released, Manik rushed home but Parvati had succumbed to her illness by then.

“She was not breathing and turned cold. Her six-month-old daughter was crying beside her body,” said Manik who claimed that he was not even told why he was detained.

“There were four policemen in the car and all of them were visibly drunk. They snatched my phone and kept it in the glove compartment after switching it off. They didn’t even allow me to inform my relatives about it,” reads the police complaint filed by Manik against the police officials.

When his family members and relatives came to know about the incident, they went to Madhotanda police station, kept Parvati’s body at the gate and staged protest against the accused police officials.

“We want the police to tell why they detained my brother or else take responsibility for the death of my wife,” said Ratan Das, Parvati’s husband.

Senior police officials took cognizance of the protest and accepted the police complaint. The superintendent of police ordered a departmental inquiry into the matter by circle officer of the area.

“The complaint has not mentioned the names of the police personnel who detained the man, so we are trying to identify the Dial 100 team, which was present in the area. Once the complaint is proved correct and officers identified, we will lodge an FIR,” said Anurag Darshan, CO of the area.

“The said Dial 100 vehicle (PRV 2083) was not in the area at the time of the incident, as claimed by the complainant. It has been proved by the GPS tracking report of the vehicle,” said Dayanidhi Nathani, district superintendent of police, Pilibhit.

However, the claim of arbitrary arrest was still being investigated.