ACP, cops sent to lines for assault on woman journo and youth at KVT

Varanasi: Facing the daunting task of handling huge crowds during Rangbhari Ekadashi celebration on Friday, an ACP and several policemen allegedly assaulted a woman reporting for a local news portal at Kashi Vishwanath Dham and slapped a youth who came forward to save her. Several policemen were also accused of thrashing a Batuk (young Vedic student) in barricaded areas while standing in a queue inside the shrine area. After videos of both incidents went viral, senior officials took note of it on Saturday. DCP (Kashi zone) Gaurav Banswal said that the ACP and all other policemen involved in both incidents were attached to police lines and an investigation was ordered against them. All policemen deployed in and around Kashi Vishwanath Dham, ghats along the Ganga and public places for crowd regulation were issued strict directives to behave cordially with the public, he added.
Kashi Vishwanath Dham administration had allowed entry to the media at the cultural venue site on campus for coverage of events on the occasion of Rangbhari Ekadashi. The woman journalist reached Gate No. 4, the designated entry point for journalists, and sought entry by showing the pass. She alleged that an ACP touched her inappropriately while pushing her back and assaulted her and that when a person came forward to stop policemen from misbehaving with her, he was beaten up too by policemen escorting the ACP. The entire episode was recorded on phone cameras by people standing in queues, and it went viral on social media by Saturday morning. Inappropriate behaviour by policemen was also reported inside KV Dham, when a young Vedic student was seen being caught and beaten by them in the viral videos.