Visuals show the cop struggling to get up from the ground as the angry crowd leaves.
A disturbing video has emerged from Madhya Pradesh of a policeman being thrashed by locals with sticks in a village. Villagers have alleged the cop had hit a man on his head. Police, however, said the locals got angry when they were told to shut shops after the Covid curfew was violated.
In the video, several angry men in a village in Chhatarpur, about 330 km from state capital Bhopal, can be seen brutally thrashing the cop. One of them apparently has a head injury. Nobody is wearing a mask as mandated by the government.
Another video shows some angry men shouting; one of them is the man with the head injury. He is shouting abuses on camera.
Visuals show the cop struggling to get up from the ground as the angry crowd leaves. A couple of sticks can be seen lying around.
When he is asked why he was beaten up, the policeman, says: "They hit me when they were told to shut the shops."
Speaking to reporters, another police officer, Shashank Jain, said: "We had got inputs that Covid curfew is being violated in Jhamtuli village. A team went there to enforce restrictions. Some people got angry when they were told to shut shops and they thrashed staff."
"We are still probing the matter. As soon as we get more details, we will take necessary action," he added.
Earlier this week, a team led by a woman tehsildar (revenue official) that visited Malikhedi village of Ujjain district to motivate villagers for Covid vaccination was attacked by locals. A widely circulated video of the incident on social media shows the medical team members running after the attack on them.
Last year, some healthcare workers and civic officials were attacked by a mob of angry locals in an Indore neighbourhood when they visited the area to screen residents for signs of novel coronavirus infection.