The Hindu : Cops pick up teenager, beat him

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Cops pick up teenager, beat him

By Anjali Malhotra

NEW DELHI, MARCH 20. He's very excited about his role in the play "Patri Par Bachpan'' that his organisation will be presenting soon. As a policeman, he has to portray how cops treat the homeless, who like himself, spend their lives on the streets. But horror came visiting 18-year-old Rajan Sharma last evening when the roles were reversed and he was at the receiving end.

Like any other day, Friday evening also found Rajan playing in the park with his friends. But suddenly, everyone ran away. "Two policemen were approaching us. My friends told me to run saying the policemen would beat us up. They kept saying that these two always beat everyone up,'' he adds. But before he could get away, the duo - Constable T.P. Villiapa and Constable Bhimesh Kumar - were upon him.

"They caught me and without any reason started hitting me. They repeatedly slapped and hit me hard on the neck and back. Then one of them boxed me behind the ear,'' says Rajan, pointing to his swollen ear and neck. "It was very painful. And there was no reason for them to have hit me. They kept insisting that I was gambling. I was just playing with my friends. I don't know why they kept hitting me,'' he said.

The policemen then took Rajn to the Sunlight Colony police post from where he contacted Jamghat, a non-government organisation that works with street children. Two hours later, Rajan left the police post but not before a complaint had been filed against the behaviour of the policemen. "They don't have any right to hit him. How can they just catch any child from the street and hit him?" asks Amit Singha from Jamghat.

For Rajan, life has just begun to look better. From living on the streets, he now has a roof above his head and is studying hard to get admission into a school. But apart from that, the non-government organisations working for the cause have given him something that he might never have had: A home. "I went for the World Social Forum recently and I also presented this play when Prince Charles visited Delhi. Now I am hoping to go to Pakistan to play cricket for peace over there,'' says Rajan.

Meanwhile, the police maintain that the boy was picked because he was gambling. However, they also admit their mistake. "The two policemen involved were reprimanded last evening when everyone heard about the incident. They were told that even if the child was gambling, they should not have hit him. A sub-inspector has been put in charge of inquiring into the complaint,'' according to a source.

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