Newborn 'crushed under police boot' in Jharkhand; FIR against 6 policemen

An FIR has been lodged against six policemen and five of them were suspended following the death of an infant who was allegedly crushed under police boots during a raid in Jharkhand's Giridih district, an official said Thursday. The incident prompted Chief Minister Hemant Soren to order an investigation.

The FIR was registered after the postmortem report mentioned “rupture of the spleen” of the four-day infant, he said.

"An FIR has been lodged against six policemen including two officers - Sangam Pathak and S K Mandal - in the case with Deori police station in Giridih… Five of them have been suspended," the police official said.

The alleged incident occurred at Koshodinghi village under Deori police station in the small hours of Wednesday, when police personnel went to a house to arrest two persons.

Further investigation is underway, the official added.

The alleged incident, which occurred at Koshodinghi village under Deori police station when police personnel went to a house to arrest two persons in connection with a case, led the opposition BJP to demand the suspension of senior officials.

"It has been alleged that a four-day-old boy died when the police went there to execute two non-bailable warrants issued by the court. Prima facie, external injuries have not been found on the baby’s body. It has been sent for postmortem examination," Giridih Superintendent of Police Amit Renu had told PTI.

The SP said four to five police personnel had gone to execute non-bailable warrants against Bhushan Pandey, grandfather of the deceased infant, and another person.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren ordered a probe into the incident after a video went viral in which a person, apparently Bhushan Pandey, is seen alleging that police personnel raided their home at 3.20 am and they opened the door using force when it was not opened.

"I fled and the women also rushed out. The policemen started searching the house when the four-day-old child was sleeping there. The baby was crushed and killed," the person in the video claimed.

Senior BJP leader and former chief minister Babulal Marandi termed the alleged crime 'heinous' and demanded immediate filing of FIR in the case besides suspension of senior officials who did not take immediate action.

"Chief Minister Hemant Soren ji, have some shame. Send a team of senior officials from Ranchi. First of all, get the FIR done and send the policemen who killed the newborn to jail... Otherwise, you will also not be saved from the sin of 'sarkari hatya' of a four-day infant,” Marandi tweeted.

CPI-ML MLA Vinod Kumar Singh raised the issue in the Jharkhand Assembly demanding a thorough probe into the incident and stringent action against the police if the incident is found to be true.

"This is horrendous. If found true, the guilty should not be spared. The police raid teams should be sensitive towards women and children and exercise caution," Singh told PTI.

Ruling JMM legislator from Giridih, Sudivya Kumar, said, "We are waiting for the postmortem report. If it is confirmed that the infant died under police boots, stringent action will be taken against the guilty."

Congress legislator Irfan Ansari said action will follow if the incident is found to be true.

None of the police officials so far could provide details regarding the exact case against the accused for which the raids were conducted.