A Haryana 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.
Khurshid Ahmed was taking the migrants to the eastern district of Gorakhpur after picking them up in Ghaziabad, where they had assembled in large numbers. He had driven to Ghaziabad and to Gorakhpur from the Palwal bus depot in Haryana on the instructions of the local administration.
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.
‘Hit with lathis’
Mr. Ahmed said that when he 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 alleged, a 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 said he was kicked and hit with lathis by several policemen, including an inspector. “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.”
The driver stated that 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.
