Samajwadi Party workers have alleged that they were assaulted by Meerut Senior Superintendent of Police Avinash Pandey on Wednesday.

In a video, Digvijay Bhati alleged that Pandey assaulted and abused him at the office of the senior superintendent of police. He was later taken to the Special Operations Group office, where police personnel allegedly assaulted him and hung him upside down by his feet, he alleged.

Bhati named Civil Lines Police Station Inspector Akhilesh Gaur among those who allegedly assaulted him.

Bhati’s left eye is swollen in the video. He alleged that Pandey kicked him in the eye multiple times.

Another Samajwadi Party worker, Mohit Jatav, who accompanied Bhati to Pandey’s office, also alleged that he was assaulted, The Times of India reported.

He alleged that his legs were swollen after the assault and he was having difficulty hearing. He also claimed that the two Samajwadi Party workers were kept in custody for 12 hours.

Following the allegations, Pandey was transferred to the state police headquarters in Lucknow on Thursday, The Times of India reported.

The Meerut Police said that it had taken cognisance of allegations of “rudeness and assault” against “visitors” at the senior superintendent of police’s office. Abhishek Singh, the deputy inspector general of police of the Saharanpur range, will investigate the incident, the police added.

Bhati, Jatav named in an FIR

The allegations came against the backdrop of police action against Dalit protesters in Meerut on July 8. The protesters had gathered outside the Meerut Collectorate over alleged lapses in the investigation into the murder of a Dalit college student. Her body was found in a field in Meerut’s Rohta area on May 15.

The demonstrators blocked the collectorate gate for nearly three hours, demanding to meet the district authorities and seeking the arrest of the main person accused in the case, The Times of India quoted the police as saying.

The protest turned violent after the police, led by Pandey, carried out a lathi charge, the newspaper reported.

The police booked 63 protesters under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including one which pertains to attempt to murder. Thirteen persons were named in the first information report and 50 were unidentified. Bhati and Jatav were among those named.

Bhati said that he had gone to meet Pandey on Wednesday to seek that his name be removed from the FIR. He claimed that he was not present at the site of the protest.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state is “subjecting farmer leaders to third-degree torture and beatings inside police stations”.

The incident “shows just how rattled [the BJP] is out of fear of defeat”, Yadav added.

Bhati is also a leader of the Bharat Kisan Union. Assembly elections are expected to be held in early 2027.

MP Chandrashekhar Azad of the Azad Samaj Party said that the alleged brutality against Bhati and Jatav raises questions about the law and order and police accountability in the state.

“This is not policing but an open abuse of the power of the uniform and torture in custody,” he said. “No officer has the right to take the law into their own hands.”

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in.