An assistant police inspector posted at Kalamboli police station in Navi Mumbai was booked on Thursday for assaulting a 28-year-old Dalit man inside the police station premises. The officer, Dinesh Patil, has also been booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly hurling casteist abuses against the victim, Vikas Ujgare. Patil is alleged to have spat on Ujgare’s face and forced him to lick his shoes at the police station.
Patil is said to have held a grudge against Ujgare, who had complained to senior police officers about the hesitancy shown by officers of Kalamboli police station to register his complaint after he was duped in a cyber scam.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Ujgare said, “Around 8 pm on January 6, I was at a Chinese restaurant with my friend, who had a brawl with the restaurant owner. We were assaulted by the owner and I called up the Police Control Room. Soon, a team from Kalamboli Police station reached the spot.”
Ujgare added that as he was hurt, he asked the police officers to take him to a hospital but they refused. “After much pleading, the officers took me to a government hospital in Panvel. The doctors advised the police to take me to a different hospital. However, the officers took me to Kalamboli police station, where I was forced to sit on the floor. It was then that Patil came and started slapping me,” he said.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com . Read the full story here