A Haryana State roadways bus driver who was asked to drop migrants returning home during the lockdown against COVID-19 was allegedly thrashed by Uttar Pradesh police on the outskirts of Lucknow for merely asking directions.
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The driver, Khurshid Ahmed, was taking migrants to the eastern district of Gorakhpur after picking them up in Ghaziabad, where they had assembled in large numbers.
Mr. Ahmed had driven to Ghaziabad and to Gorakhpur from Palwal bus depot in Haryana on the instructions of the local administration to meet the crisis of transporting the migrants.
After reaching Lucknow via Bareilly around midnight on March 30, Mr. Ahmed stopped near the Barabanki Chowk to confirm from the policemen stationed there if he was on the correct route to Gorakhpur.
“I didn’t know the way, so I had to ask around. This is not our usual route,” he told The Hindu on phone.
‘Kicked and hit with lathis’
When Mr. Ahmed asked the policemen about the route to Gorakhpur, he was abused and accused of violating the lockdown. When he raised an objection and pointed out that he had driven on the orders of the government, he says, the policeman asked him to step down and started hitting him, while another policemen who was behind him hit him on his back with a lathi.
Mr. Ahmed alleged that he was kicked and hit with lathis by several policemen, including an inspector, who hit him as they came.
“After that, the inspector asked me to get lost and when I started climbing into the bus, they hit me again from behind. I fell on the ground. They kicked me while I was lying on the ground and one of them hit me once again when I tried to climb back into the bus,” Mr. Ahmed said.
The driver says he struggled to sit properly while driving to Gorakhpur and then back to Palwal due to the pain and swelling, mostly in the lower part of his body especially hamstrings.
Seeks legal action
“I want legal action against the policemen. It’s the fourth day and I still have blue marks and pain. They beat me up badly,” he said on Thursday.
Mr. Ahmed said he was wearing a mask and taking all precautions while driving the 52-seater bus, which was packed with twice the capacity.
“My only mistake was that I asked policemen for the way,” said Mr. Ahmed, who has written a complaint to Lucknow Police Commissioner.
No FIR lodged yet
Ram Asray Yadav, Haryana Roadways Workers Union, State committee chief adviser, said the union was outraged by the incident.
“We sacrificed so much and put ourselves under risk to transport people home. And now our driver is getting beaten up and we are not able to even get an FIR registered, there is a lot of anger among our people,” Mr. Yadav said.
Mr. Yadav said the bus drivers did not seek any fare from the migrants.
