The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Poet beaten up for telling DTC conductor not to urinate on road
DEVI PRASAD Mishra, a renowned Hindi poet and documentary filmmaker, has alleged he was assaulted by a DTC conductor and his associates after he objected to the conductor urinating in public, near Hasanpur Depot in east Delhi.
Police said the incident took place around 7.30 pm when Mishra was walking from his studio in Kaushambi to his home in Patparganj, when a DTC bus pulled up in front of him near EDM Mall.
Police said the bus conductor stepped out and started urinating on the road. When Mishra objected, he was assaulted, first by the conductor and later by the driver and their associate, police said. At the time when he was assaulted, none of the passersby came to his rescue, claimed Mishra.
A case has been registered under IPC sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) at Ghazipur police station.
Talking to The Indian Express, Mishra said that the DTC bus, coming from Anand Vihar side, had no passengers.
“When I saw the conductor urinating, I made a sarcastic remark and said that he was was defying the cleanliness programme. He threatened me and started abusing me. I started walking and the bus started moving alongside me. The conductor told me to come inside,” said Mishra.
Mishra then made a video to capture the bus registration number, which prompted the conductor to step out of the vehicle and start punching him, police said.
“Three people started beating me and when I started running away, the conductor screamed at me saying I will be run over by the bus. He said to me, ‘Saari netagiri nikal jayegi’. My face was swollen and my nose started to bleed. I made a PCR call and police took me to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital,” said Mishra, adding, “I had only objected to someone urinating in public.”
Additional DCP (east) R Sathiyasundaram said both the conductor and the driver have been identified by police, and they will be called in for questioning on Friday morning.
“The driver is Yashpal and the conductor’s name is Kailash. They are employed at Hasanpur Depot. Our teams had gone to the depot and they weren’t there... We will get them on Friday morning,” the additional DCP said.
Hasanpur Depot manager Devender Pratap said that in the past there was no violence reported against the driver-conductor duo. “We have informed both of them and they will join the investigation soon.”