Parents of both the victims work for an animal rights NGO in Dehradun

DEHRADUN/NEW DELHI: Two Tibetan youths , one of them from Dehradun, were allegedly thrashed by a cop of Mahipalpur police station after they called up the police control room about a pig lying injured on the road near Labour Chowk. The policeman even threatened them with an encounter death. The incident took place around 2.30 am on Tuesday.

In an audio-video of the incident, a copy of which is with TOI, the policeman can be heard saying, “You should focus on studies rather than politics. Do you think policemen are responsible for taking care of pigs?”

“Pahado ke tum bookhe nange log Delhi me aa ke aazadi mangte ho. Goli maar du? (You people from the hills come to Delhi and ask for independence. Should I shoot you?),” the policeman, identified as Vikram Singh, goes on to say. When the boys plead with him, saying all they want is to save the pig, the video shows the officer thrashing them with sticks and kicking them for over 25 minutes.

Parents of both the victims work for an animal rights NGO in Dehradun.

One of the victims, Tenzin Lhakpa, 20, is pursuing hotel management at IMS University and doing an internship at Radisson Blu hotel in Mahipalpur. Talking to TOI, he said, “My friends and I called a Delhi-based NGO, Animal Care Centre, and asked them to rescue the pig. They suggested that we call 100 and inform the police, as they could take up a case only after reference by the cops. After we called up the control room, a policeman arrived on a bike and once he found what we had called him for, started abusing us.”

Lahkpa added that as his friend from Uttarakhand’s Roorkee “looked Indian”, the cop let him go and thrashed and abused his Tibetan friend, Tenzin Kunsel, a nursing student at Jamia Hamdard University in Delhi.

Sanjeev Kumar, station house officer (SHO) of Vasant Kunj South police station, told police that the medicolegal reports of both the youngsters had reached police. He added that the boys had been asked to file a complaint so an FIR can be filed. “They haven’t come to the police station yet, but we need them to come here and complete the paperwork and formalities so we can proceed with further action,” he added.

“We have taken strict note of the incident and initiated an inquiry. The policeman has been sent to the district lines pending the inquiry,” a senior police officer said.

