Araria: An FIR has been lodged here against two officials of the Bihar Agriculture Department for allegedly humiliating a village chowkidar who had stopped their vehicle and asked them to show their passes allowing them to travel amid the lockdown, police said on Thursday.

Araria sub divisional police officer (SDPO) Pushkar Kumar said district agriculture officer Manoj Kumar and agriculture coordinator Rajiv Kumar have been booked under the National Disaster Management Act, invoked for enforcing the nationwide lockdown. An FIR has also been registered against Kumar, who accused the chowkidar of taking a bribe.

He also confirmed to The Wire that ASI Govind Singh, who had joined the DAO and other men in humiliating Ganesh Lal Tamta, has been suspended.

They have also been booked for various penal offences relating to the use of force, preventing a government servant from discharging his duty and criminal intimidation.

The SDPO said the FIR was lodged on Wednesday night upon the statement of Bairgachhi police outpost in-charge Harendra Kumar that Tatma, a home guard jawan, was insulted by the two officials and the ASI.

Tamta was forced to hold his ears and do sit-ups on the road. He was forced to apologise with folded hands and fell on the officer’s feet. Visuals of the ‘punishment’ handed out to the chowkidar had soon gone viral on social media.

Another video of the incident had surfaced on Wednesday in which someone off the camera can be heard saying to the chowkidar, “If you start taking money from health workers and others, how will they serve?”

“Agriculture Coordinator Rajiv Kumar tried to mislead, saying Tamta had sought a bribe. Hence, an FIR has been registered against him as well”, said SDPO Pushkar Kumar.

According to a report published in Dainik Bhaskar on April 23, other men who accompanied the DAO were Araria block agriculture officer Amarnath Thakur, District Registration and Counselling Centre (DRCC) manager Ravi Shankar and a staff member of the Soil Testing Lab in Araria, Amit Kumar. While Amarnath and Ravi Shankar have acknowledged their presence at the spot, Amit has denied it.

The Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) took suo moto cognizance of the matter on Wednesday and called for a detailed report separately from Araria DM and SP by May 6.

“It involves a gross violation of not only human rights of the victim home guard but also breaking down the laws and rules by the officers who are supposed to be the custodian of law and who stoop so low as to violate them. The incident demands quick and immediate action on the guilty officer and his associates for this incident (sic)”, said acting Chairperson of BHRC, Ujjwal Kumar Dubey in an order.

Bihar's additional chief secretary (home) Amir Subhani has asked the agriculture department to initiate action against the DAO, according to a story published in Deccan Herald.

Earlier, state agriculture minister Prem Kumar had ordered a departmental enquiry in the matter.

According to news agency PTI, director general of police Gupteshwar Pandey took a strong note of the incident, which occurred on Monday. Visuals of the 'punishment' went viral on Tuesday.

Besides ringing up Tatma to express his regret over the incident, the state police chief also suspended the ASI, noting that he was party to the treatment meted out to the chowkidar "that went against human dignity" and involved "making a man in uniform fall at other people's feet".

Tanzil Asif is a Bihar-based journalist-cum-entrepreneur and the founder of a hyper-local news organisation, Main Media. He tweets at @tnzl_

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