A four-day-old newborn baby died after allegedly getting crushed under the boot of a policeman in Giridih district of Jharkhand on Wednesday, family members alleged.
The incident occurred when a police team carried out a raid to arrest the infant’s grandfather in Koshogondodigi village which falls under Deori police station limits in Giridih.
Armed with a court warrant, the police team, led by Deori police station in-charge Sangam Pathak, forcibly entered accused Bhushan Pandey’s home when his family members did not open the entrance gate despite repeated requests by cops.
As the team barged in, a policeman, without taking off his boots climbed up a bed on which the infant was allegedly sleeping. According to family members, the policeman stepped over the newborn boy, resulting in his death.
The child was born to the accused’s daughter-in-law Neha Devi just four days ago.
Speaking to media persons, accused Bhushan Pandey said, “The police conducted a raid at my house at 3:50 am. When they knocked on the door, I fled the spot using the backdoor.”
“As policemen launched a search for me in the house, a policeman stepped over to the bed and my grandson got crushed under his boot,” he said, narrating the sequence of events.
When the matter came to his knowledge, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren took cognizance of it and ordered an investigation into the incident. “Kindly investigate this incident and inform about the action taken,” he directed police and senior officials on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the police team could not arrest accused Bhushan Pandey and left the village when family members and neighbours protested the highhandedness of the local police.
The family was left behind bereaving at the sudden demise of their new born child. The news spread in the area like wildfire, angering villagers who lodged a strong protest demanding murder charges to be pressed against the policeman.