Noida police slapped Magsaysay award winner Arvind Kejriwal and roughed up protestors who were protesting against corrupt officials
Deevakar Anand | January 15, 2011
In India, not only are you expected to suffer graft, you are expected to suffer it silently. The Noida police reinforced the increasingly intolerant attitude of the state towards whistleblowing and raising a voice against corruption when it assaulted RTI activist and Magsaysay winner Arvind Kejriwal and roughed up other activists assembled to protest against the graft at the Noida registrar's office and police inaction on the issue on Saturday.
Kejriwal and the activists were on a peaceful protest when the police resorted to unprovoked thrashing, not sparing even senior citizens and women. The protest was organised under the banner of Bharat Jagran, a forum founded by Gaurav Bakshi, a Noida-based MNC executive. Bakshi himself had been the victim of graft at office of the Noida registrar of marriage. Read the report here.
The Noida police had failed to act on Bakshi's complaint following which he turned to the social newtworking site Facebook to garner support for his anti-corruption drive.
Today, around 200 activists mobilised through the campaign, led by Kejriwal were protesting in front of the registrar’s office.
When the protestors demanded an explanation for the police’s inaction, it thrashed Kejriwal and others who were at the lead. Women protestors too were roughed up by the male cops. One of them, Swati later told GovernanceNow, "I am not deterred by such police misbehaviour and will continue to stand up against corruption." There were dramatic scenes of police hooliganism when it shoved protestors into jeeps and took them away to unknown destination. Amid the chaos they created, the police refused to talk to the media.
When I followed their vehicles in a private car along with a couple of activists, we traced them to sector 34 police chowki where Bakshi and Kejriwal along with other protestors were detained. I was not allowed to interact with them and soon they were again put into jeeps and taken away. During the chaos, I had tried to call Kejriwal and Bakshi both, but the phones were disconnected soon after they rang. Later I found out from them, that police had seized their phones to prevent them from calling for assistance.
As if this was not enough, police also took away our car’s keys and it was only after persistent argument with them that they let us go. We ended up tracing them to sector 20 police station finally, where, till the time of filing this story, Bakshi, his wife, his parents, Kejriwal and several other activists were detained and told to wait for a senior officer who would decide on what to do.
Kejriwal said, “You can see for yourself what’s happening around. The police is protecting the corrupt officials and thrashing us for our legitimate demand for action against them. Right to protest peacefully is our constitutional right and we will not let things go.”
Bakshi’s father rued, “Inspite of intimation in writing about the protest to the SSP’s office, this has happened.”
Noida police not only betrayed its arrogance but also showed itself to be totally ignorant of certain things many would take for granted to be known.
When I asked the sector 24 SHO Jayant Girish why someone as respected as Kejriwal was thrashed unprovoked, he asked, “Who is he”?
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