Telangana cop, seen kicking grieving father in viral video, suspended

After the video of a grieving father manhandled by a Telangana police constable, N Sridhar courted public outrage, the latter was suspended on Wednesday for his insensitive behaviour. 

"Police constable N Sridhar has been placed under suspension,’’ Chandana Deepti, in-charge Superintendent of Police, Sangareddy district, said. The incident occurred at Patancheru near Hyderabad on Wednesday.

According to media reports,  Director General of Police M Mahendar Reddy, in a press conference with the police officers and home guards in the state, cited the example of a police constable, N Sridhar and cautioned them to avoid such irresponsible behaviour in future which might damage the reputation of the police department.    

A video showed a police constable kicking an old man protesting the circumstances around the death of his 17-year-old daughter in Velimela, Sangareddy district. The incident happened after Sandhya Rani, student of Intermediate First Year (11th standard), had allegedly committed suicide at the hostel of a private college in Velimala village. The police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against the college management for negligence after father Chandrashekhar complained that she was suffering from fever for last one week but the college authorities refused to send her home or provide her with adequate treatment.

The girl's body was kept at the mortuary in the government hospital at Patancheru for an autopsy when the girl`s relatives and students forcibly took away the body to college and protested in the premises to demand justice. However, after a while, the police came, dispersed the protestors, and were carrying the girl's body back to the hospital. It is during that time that the girl's father tried to block their path by throwing himself to the ground, and was hanging on to the coffin, when the constable kicked him.

Reacting to the incident,  Rama Rao, son of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, had tweeted," Showing empathy in times of grief such as this is the basic courtesy that is expected of Govt officials."  

Meanwhile, the college authorities on Wednesday announced a compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the girl's family. The family later performed the last rites in their native village in Mahabubnagar.