KV Correspondent

Rajasthan officials beat man to death after he objects to their photographing women defecating in open

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A 44-year-old man was killed in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh Friday after being allegedly assaulted by the local civic body chief and three other municipal council employees engaged in the Swachh Bharat campaign, Indian Express reported.

According to the police, the slain had objected to officials who were taking photographs of women defecating in the open.

“We have lodged an FIR under IPC section 302 (murder) against Nagar Parishad Commissioner Ashok Jain and municipal employees Kamal Harijan, Ritesh Harijan and Manish Harijan following a complaint by the family of Zafar Hussain, 44, who died on Friday morning after an alleged assault by these government employees,” Indian Express quoted Pratapgarh Station House Officer Mangi Lal Bishnoi.

The FIR was registered on a complaint filed by Hussain’s brother Nur Mohammad. “Some women… were defecating in open today at around 6-6:30 am near our Kuttchi Basti Mehtab Shah colony, when the Nagar Parishad commissioner’s car reached the spot, along with Kamal, Ritesh and Manish and others. The men started taking photographs of the women,” the complaint stated.

“My brother Zafar… asked them not to click photographs but the men started assaulting him with lathis, and punched and kicked him. He fell and died on the spot. All the people present at the spot, including the women, can identify the men who killed my brother,” it said.

Meanwhile, Nagar Parishad commissioner Ashok Jain has denied the charges.

“We went to the slum to spread awareness about the adverse effects of open defecation. This man, Zafar Khan, arrived there and started abusing us and later also assaulted one of our sanitation staff. Following that, he left the place and returned to his home. At that time he was perfectly healthy,” Hindustan times quoted Jain.

Hussain is survived by his wife and two daughters. The slum residents, who alleged that the administration was trying to hush up the matter, gave the names of five more alleged assailants to the police.


KV Correspondent

Kashmir Correspondent cover all daily updates for the newspaper

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