HUBBALI: A controversy has erupted in Karnataka following allegations that the police disrobed a BJP woman functionary while arresting her recently here in connection with an attack on government officials, a charge the police rejected.
Police claimed she removed her clothes herself and also attacked the cops, causing them bite injuries.
A video of the woman being topless has gone viral, sparking a row.
Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner N Shashikumar on Wednesday dismissed the allegations claiming the woman not only disrobed herself but also bit four police officers, including two sub-inspectors in their abdomen.
According to sources, there was some encroachment of a government land. To clear it, revenue officials had gone there with policemen and they were attacked by the alleged illegal occupants.
A case was registered in this connection and the woman was a key accused. When a police team went to pick her up, she resisted arrest, they claimed.
The police team overpowered her and bundled her inside the police vehicle.
Videos of the woman emerged showing her topless. She alleged the police team disrobed her.
Refuting the charge, Shashikumar explained the chronology of the events to reporters.
He said in Chalukya Nagar area of Keshwapur in Hubballi, when government officers went for the land survey, people picked up a quarrel with them and attacked them.
In this connection three separate cases were registered and the police.
In one of the cases, the investigating officer decided to arrest one of the women involved in the offence.
While effecting the arrest, the Investigsting Officer had shown utmost restraint and precaution. He had taken about 8-10 women officers and staff, knowing very well that there is a possibility of some "nuisance" happening, Shashikumar said.
"In spite of that, when she was taken inside the police vehicle, she unclothed herself. Our women officers and staff who were present in the spot took the assistance of local people and got a separate dress for her," the officer said.
He added that the police repeatedly requested her to wear another cloth.
"So the accusation against the police is absolutely false, and it is with all bad intentions. I have verified the sequence of events," Shashikumar said.
He said he has still asked the Deputy Commissioner of Police to conduct a thorough inquiry into the whole sequence of events from January 1 to 5.
Shashikumar said the woman has about nine cases pending against her. She has been sent to judicial custody.
Four women police officers got injured in the melee, he said.
"Two were very badly injured because she bit them in their abdomen, and two others have also sustained some injuries. And three-four of our male staff also have sustained some injuries. But they thought, you know, it's part of our job. Why to complain," Shashikumar said.
"Men officers and staff have not given any complaint, but lady officers, two of them are very badly injured and have filed a complaint," he added.