Rajasthan: Infant’s death during police raid in Alwar sparks outrage; villagers stage sit-in

The local villagers have staged a sit-in protest since March 2, after the tragic incident

The death of a 25-day-old child, allegedly during an early morning police raid, has led to rising anger in Raghunathgarh village in Rajasthan’s Alwar district.

The family members claim that police personnel trampled on the infant as they entered the house for a raid. The action was part of a series of raids conducted by police on March 2 in connection with their crackdown on cybercrime.

The police officials entered the house of Razeeda (26) and Imran Meo (27) in Raghunathgarh to investigate a cybercrime case. While the police officials dragged Imran out of the house, the infant was trampled, the family members said.

The local villagers have staged a sit-in protest since March 2, after the tragic incident. Maulana Tahir, an activist, while speaking to The Indian Express, informed that the residents are demanding the suspension of officers from the police station and the arrest of those accused in the case.

“Police and administration want the matter to cool down in a few days and later release all the culprits,” Tahir said.

Reacting to the incident, Superintendent of Police Nain assured that action would be taken after the investigation. “The investigation has been given to Bhiwadi Additional SP Atul Sahu, who visited the area on Monday. We will act against the accused officials once the investigation is complete and the report is submitted. Until then, it would be too soon to say anything,” he said.

Alwar’s Principal Medical Officer Sunil Chauhan said the final postmortem and the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report were yet to arrive and that the cause of the infant’s death would become clear only after these are received.

Two police officers are named in the FIR that the police have filed regarding the incident. However, no officials have been suspended yet, The Indian Express reported.

The infant’s mother, Razeeda, recalled that the police squad began pounding on her family's door while they were asleep. Razeeda claimed that as she opened the door, police officials swept her away and proceeded directly inside to her husband, who had just woken up.

"My husband, two sons, along with the infant, were sleeping on the cot beside the bed. I informed the two police officials that my child was asleep on the cot as they entered the room, but they chose to disregard me. I hurried to my baby and noticed that her nose had bled and that she was no longer breathing as the police dragged my husband out of the house," she said.

Members of the family then went to the Naogaon police station, where the police officials who raided the home were from, to file a complaint. Shaukeen Meo, Razeeda’s brother-in-law, said that police at the station initially denied that any such incident happened and forcefully made them sign a blank paper.

“Later, we got to know that on that paper, officials wrote that the child was already sick and that this was the reason for her death. We never consented to this, but they did all this to save their officers,” alleged Shaukeen.

Alwar SP Sanjeev Nain told The Indian Express that he was not aware of police making the family sign such a paper, and Additional SP Atul Sahu refused to comment, saying the matter is under investigation.