Patna: A group of young men carrying JDU banners with chief minister Nitish Kumar's picture allegedly beat up a woman police constable inside a police picket in the heart of the state capital in broad daylight on Tuesday.
The constable, Mila Devi, was alone on duty at the police picket in Kargil Chowk when the incident occurred.
The attackers were allegedly going to attend a function organised by former education minister Ashok Choudhary.
Choudhary, who ditched the Congress and joined Nitish's party early this month, had organised a meet at SK Memorial Hall. The event, christened Samridh aur Gauravshali Bihar: Yuva Ki Bhoomika, was attended by Nitish, JDU state president Bashishtha Narayan Singh, Choudhary and others.
Police sources said that the incident occurred at around 12.45pm, when some youths on bikes carrying JDU flags were passing through the Kargil Chowk area.
A commuter who was also on a motorcycle accidentally hit the bikes of some of the men with JDU flags. The men started assaulting the commuter in the middle of the road.
The commuter, a young man whose identity is yet to be ascertained, ran towards the police picket to save himself from the clutches of his assaulters. That did not deter the men carrying the JDU flags; they barged into the police picket and started beating up the youth.
When constable Mila Devi tried to save the young man, the men carrying JDU flags thrashed her as well.
"I was alone at the picket when around a dozen youths carrying JDU flags, who were going to attend the party function at SK Memorial Hall, entered the police picket and started assaulting a youth." Mila said. "When I tried to save the youth, the unruly youths threatened me, asking me not to interfere.
"One of them hit me with a plastic basket, meant for keeping vegetables, which was kept at the picket," she added.
The youths also damaged the police picket before fleing from the spot.
"Some Bihar Military Police jawans were on duty near Gandhi Maidan, but they too didn't come to help me," Mila said.
Sources said that the police picket at Kargil Chowk is usually manned by woman constable, and that three police personnel including two woman constables work in shifts through the day while at night the police picket is manned by a male member.
"We are trying to find the identity of youths behind the incident through CCTV footage," said Patna superintendent of police (central) D. Amarkesh. "Strict action will be taken against those who were involved in the incident."
Police and party sources said that the youths were members of Kings of Patna, a notorious bikers' gang. Involvement of bikers' gang members in political parties' rallies or events is not new; they are generally hired by leaders to add to the crowd.
JDU MLC and party spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said the party has taken a tough stance over the incident.
"The party will take up the matter at the organisational level and will try to identify the youths who were behind the incident," Neeraj said. "If the youths are from the JDU, they will be shown the door."
