Made a scapegoat to save the seniors, says suspended policeman

A DAY after two constables and a head constable were suspended over allegations of police highhandedness against students and journalists during the North Campus protests, one of them told The Indian Express that he had been made a “scapegoat” so that senior officers would not have to face the repercussions.

“Commuters were facing a problem due to the protest. Since there was a jam on the road, we were asked to put the students into a bus. They would have been taken to the police station and later allowed to go,” said the officer, who did not wish to be identified.

“I did not beat any student; I only picked them up and pushed them into the bus. Somebody clicked a photo... but I did not beat anyone,” said the officer.

Asked why only three policemen had been suspended, he said, “I have been made a scapegoat. Somebody had to face the music... so they suspended me...”

He said that he was summoned by senior officers on Thursday and they showed him photographs from the protest. “I told them I was not beating students, but they told me I was being put under suspension,” he said.

He also said he could not tell journalists apart from protesters “because they were not wearing their ID cards or carrying a camera”.

“There was just some pushing during which some mediapersons became victims. I never beat them up,” he said. Mumbai: Following the clashes at Delhi University’s North Campus, the students’ union of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has come out in support of students of Ramjas College. In a statement, the union said it condemns the ABVP’S “repeated attempts to suppress democratic spaces and voices”. ENS