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 Pushkar Kumar said District Agriculture Officer Manoj Kumar and Agriculture Coordinator Kumar Rajeev have been booked under the National Disaster Management Act, invoked for enforcing the nationwide lockdown.
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 Ganesh Lal Tatma, a Home Guard jawan, was insulted by the two officials, and an additional sub inspector, Govind Singh, who reached the spot.
The village chowkidar was forced to do squats, holding his ears and prostrate before the agriculture officer, he said.
Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey took a strong note of the incident which occurred on Monday and its video clip 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".
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