On Septemeber 11, Sheesha Singh (65) of this hamlet had been apprehended along with three of his nephews on the suspicion of slaughtering cows. At Safidon police station, the cops dragged them by their hair and allegedly kept beating them till the four fell unconscious. No FIR was lodged into the incident till this morning when angry villagers gheraoed the police station.According to local residents, the victims had shown their wounds to Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala during his visit to Jind but the police kept dragging its feet over lodging an FIR. The SHO was named in the FIR only after villagers gheraoed the police station today.So far, five policemen have been suspended for their involvement in the incident — SHO Ishwar Singh Rathi, ASI Ishawar Singh, head constable Nand Kishore, constable Ranvir Singh and driver Kuldeep Singh.Deputy Commissioner of Jind Rajiv Sharma admitted police atrocities on the farmers, saying: ‘‘Action has been taken following an inquiry.’’ But he denied allegations that the accused policemen tried to hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh farmers. ‘‘There were excesses but nobody’s religious sentiments were hurt. Some vested interest seems to have blown the incident out of proportion,’’ he told The Indian Express. Villagers claim that the policemen tortured Sheesha Singh and his nephews when the farmer refused to urinate on his nephews.Sheesha Singh and his nephews — Asa Singh, Kulwinder Singh and Daler Singh — had picked up four stray cattle and two calves, which were damaging their crop, and were going to deliver them to a gaushala at Safidon when they were accosted by some youths. About a dozen in number, the youths were following them in bicycles on the suspicion that the farmers had killed a cow. ‘‘They chased us from village Khera Khemawati until we reached the town and later complained to head constable Nand Kishore who took us to the police station,’’ says Sheesha Singh.‘‘The SHO accused us of being Muslims and ordered his men to teach us a lesson. All our appeals fell on deaf ears. The policemen first removed our turbans and then tied us together using our hair. We were dumped in a corner and given a thrashing. The cops even kicked us on our wounds,’’ says Asa Singh.‘‘The SHO went to sleep around midnight, but before retiring to bed, he ordered his men to separate us only after cutting our hair,’’ said Daler. Sheesha Singh said he was asked to urinate on his nephews when they asked for water. ‘‘I said I would die than do this,’’ he said, adding that this provoked the policemen who snatched the kirpan of Kulwinder Singh and threw it into a drain.
