APF cops in soup for roughing up women

Kathmandu, November 23

Province 2 Minister of Internal Affairs and Law Gyanendra Kumar Yadav has issued stern directive to the authorities concerned to take action against Armed Police Force personnel who misbehaved with local women on Birgunj–Raxaul border yesterday.

According to a press release issued by the minister’s private secretariat, Yadav met high-ranked officers of the APF, and told them to take strong action against the erring personnel.

A video that went viral on the social media showed a member of APF grabbing a local woman by her hair and dragging her on the street. Yadav’s private secretariat stated in the release that members of APF misbehaved with

local women on Birgunj-Raxaul border and thrashed them for allegedly smuggling goods from across the border.

The release quotes Minister Yadav as saying that APF personnel treated local women in an inhuman, degrading and objectionable manner. “If any member of a security force undermines the dignity of any citizen during policing that cannot be tolerated in a civilized society. The law does not permit civil servants or security personnel to commit such acts,” the minister added.

He said security personnel should respect people’s human rights and fundamental rights in any incident. “Humiliation and rejection of a person during investigation of an incident and excesses in the course of investigation cannot be condoned,” the minister said. Yadav said police personnel should adhere to the rule of law while detaining people. He said APF officers assured Yadav that erring cops would be punished.