Amid the increasing cases against minorities, since the arrival of Bhartiya Janta Party led by Narendra Modi to power in 2014, a Sikh man Gursimar Setia, has accused the Uttar Pradesh Police of excesses against him in Agra District of the North Indian State.
Gursimar ,a student of Law at The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkatta, writing down his ordeal on Twitter, Gursimar said, “Today at 7:40 pm, I was stopped by police officers in Sanjay Place, Agra — where I had come for the purpose of withdrawing cash with my friend.”
The alleged harassment happens at such a time when the Police Force personnel have been accused of highhandedness in various states of India, including in Rajhastan, Kolkatta, Bihar, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and other places.
On March 23, a lawyer Deepak Bundele, whom Police assumed to be a was beaten up brutally by the Madhya Pradesh state police while he was on his way to a government hospital for treatment.
In Gujarat, Vaniya – a labour of centering in construction – stated that the alleged incident happened on March 28 when some 20 policemen entered his house and arrested him along with seven other Dalits from the locality.
A report published on South China Morning Post in February, said that christians and Muslims are not the only ones who feel marginalised under Modi. About 24 million Sikhs are also wary of the assimilationist agenda of the BJP and the RSS. Sikhs oppose the RSS-run Rashtriya Sikh Sangat that aims to unite Sikhs with Hindus. And the idea of a “Hindu state” does not sit well with Sikh leaders.
“Seeing two young men in the car, they started harassing us, whereupon, ASP Saurabh Dixit started verbally abusing me after seeing that I had long hair tied in a bun (I’m a Sikh),” Gursimar wrote.
The Police official later asked for his identity card, while verbally abusing Gursimar, the officer later asked for his identity card. “After seeing I was a Sikh as I was wearing a turban in the photo ID, he uttered “Madar***d Sardar” and proceeded to physically assault me and pulled my hair,” Gursimar tweeted.
Pointing out to the impunity the Police officials enjoy, Gursimar wrote, “My friend rushed out of the car to help me after which he was beaten up too. When I told him that he had outraged my religious sentiments and that I had taken note of his name from the badge he was wearing, he told me he is IPS and there is nothing I can do about it.”
This pertinently is the not the first case of assault against any Sikh.
The Quint reported that it contacted Saurabh Dixit, the Agra Police Headquarters, and the Superintendent of Police for a response, who said, “allegations are baseless”.
Responding to The Quint’s story, Agra Police tweeted that an inquiry is being conducted by a senior police officer.