‘Crushed under police boot’, newborn dies in Jharkhand

In a shocking incident, a newborn died allegedly after being crushed under police boots during a raid in Jharkhand's Giridih district on Wednesday, prompting Chief Minister Hemant Soren to order an inquiry.

The alleged incident, which took place in Koshodinghi village under Deori police station when police personnel went to a house to arrest two persons in connection with the case, led the opposition BJP to demand the suspension of senior officials.

“It was alleged that the four-day-old boy died when the police went there to execute two non-bailable warrants. Prima facie, no external injuries were found on the child's body. It has been sent for postmortem,” said Giridih Superintendent of Police Amit Renu. Once the postmortem report comes, the police will be able to say what actually happened, the SP said. He said the post-mortem will be conducted by a team of doctors under the supervision of a judge with proper video recording.

"At this time, we have no information about any police officers crushing the cub. If the allegation is found to be true, the erring staff will not be spared,” Renu said. The SP said that four to five policemen had gone to execute non-bailable warrants against Bhushan Pandey, the grandfather of the deceased child, and another person.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren ordered an inquiry into the incident after a video went viral showing a person, apparently Bhushan Pandey, claiming that police personnel raided their house at 3:20 a.m. and forced open the door when it was not opened. “I ran and the women also ran out. The police started searching the house when the four-day-old baby was sleeping in it. The child was crushed and killed,” the person in the video claimed.

Senior BJP leader and former chief minister Babulal Marandi termed the alleged crime as "heinous". They demanded an immediate FIR in the case, besides suspending senior officials who failed to take immediate action. “Chief Minister Hemant Soren ji, shame on you. Send a team of senior officials from Ranchi. First, make an FIR and send the cops who killed the newborns to jail... Else you will not be saved from the sin of 'Sarkari hatya' of a four-day-old baby,” Maranti tweeted.

CPI-ML MLA Vinod Kumar Singh raised the issue in the Jharkhand Assembly and demanded a thorough investigation into the incident and strict action against the police if the incident is found to be true. “That's terrible. If found to be true, the culprit should not be spared. Police teams should be sensitive to women and children and be vigilant,” Singh said.

The ruling JMM legislator from Giridih, Sudivya Kumar, said, “We are waiting for the postmortem report. If it is confirmed that the child died under police boots, strict action will be taken against the culprits.” Congress lawmaker Irfan Ansari said action would follow if the incident was found to be true. None of the police officials could yet provide details regarding the exact case against the accused for which the raids were conducted.