A protest against the death of a farmer in Madhya Pradesh's Tikamgarh quickly escalated into a full-fledged cop-vs-villagers physical fight on Monday. First came a seemingly unprovoked slap from a policewoman and then the locals retaliated, with one of them slapping her back. The video of the incident has now gone viral.
Viral Video: How The Incident Unfolded
The drama unfolded when the body of a local was found on Monday morning in Darguwa village under the Badagaon police station of Tikamgarh district in Madhya Pradesh. The deceased had gone to his land last night but did not return. After finding the body, the family went to the Badagaon police station to lodge a complaint.
The villagers alleged that the farmer, Gokul Lodhi, died due to police negligence.
However, the police told the villagers that the matter occurred under the jurisdiction of the Budhera police station. Hence, they should go there. Angered by this, the villagers blocked the Badagaon-Khargapur highway.
The blockade disrupted the traffic and caused a snarl for over an hour. To bring the situation under control, in-charge of the Baragaon police station Anumeha Gupta reached the spot and sought to calm them down.
The Slap And Retaliation
This is when things escalated. A boy wanted to tell the cop something and approached her from her right while she was looking the other way. To get her attention, he tapped her on the arm. At this, Anumeha Gupta got angry and slapped the boy.
The assault riled up the locals who shouted in unison to protest. "You cannot hit someone just like that," they said. The boy, who was slapped, hit back in retaliation. This was followed by more locals assaulting the cop.
The police team clearly did not expect such retaliation. After multiple slaps were landed on Gupta, the others surrounded her and escorted her away. The youth was later booked by the police, reported The Times of India.