Pregnant woman, tourists assaulted by security guards

NOIDA: An eight-month pregnant woman and a few tourists were allegedly assaulted by security guards at the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Sector 16A on Monday afternoon. Two FIRs have been registered in the matter — one by the tourists and the other by the security guards.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident took place around 3.30pm after security guards reprimanded the pregnant woman’s kin for taking photographs.

“A security guard stopped a teenager from taking selfies with one of the statues. The argument escalated and the guard started hitting the boy. When the family intervened, four or five other guards joined them and a fight broke out between the two groups. The guards even hit a woman who was nearly eight months’ pregnant,” Amit Patel, the complainant who is also an eyewitness, said. He alleged that when he and his family tried to stop the fight, even they were assaulted. “They hit my wife as well as my two-and-a-half-yearold daughter,” Patel, a resident of Delhi, said, adding that police were immediately informed about the matter via the police helpline (100).

According to the police, the guards have claimed that they were not at fault. “They insist that they were just doing their duty and were stopping a few people from climbing onto the statues. When they tried to stop them, six or seven people started arguing with them and used profane language against them. Both the parties have lodged FIRs against each other,” Avneesh Kumar, CO 1, Noida police, said. He added that the whole incident was recorded by the CCTV cameras nearby. “Once we review the footage, we will know who the erring party was,” the CO said.