RPF constable thrashes disabled man in Bengal, suspended

A Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable was Thursday suspended after he was caught on tape brutally assaulting a disabled man at the Howrah railway station in West Bengal, an official said.

In the video that has now gone viral, the constable, identified as P.N. Singh, is seen brutally thrashing the man as he struggled to hold on to his crutches.

According to witnesses, the RPF constable asked the disabled man to move out of the station here. When the man did not move out, the constable repeatedly pulled him by his hair and kicked him incessantly.

"The constable has been suspended and an inquiry has been ordered. A.K. Singh, inspector of Criminal Investigation Department of the RPF, will investigate the entire matter," an Eastern Railway spokesperson said.

Badly bruised, the man, yet to be identified, was admitted to a hospital but subsequently went missing.

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Kanti Ganguly, who heads the Paschim Banga Pratibandhi Sammilani, an organisation working among disabled people, said he will seek the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the matter.

City-based rights organisation Association for Protection of Democratic Rights vice-president Ranjit Sur too has spoken of approaching the NHRC.