Passersby captured mobile phone videos of the physically challenged man being thrashed by Railway Police Force personnel.
Railway Protection Force jawans were caught on camera mercilessly thrashed a physically challenged man at the Howrah Station last night, prompting the General Manager of Eastern Railways to launch a probe into the incident.
The man, who was on a wheelchair and was carrying crutches was probably a beggar, said sources in the Railways. He was found loitering on Platform 1 around midnight, they said.
When RPF jawans found the man on the platform after midnight, when railway services had already stopped, they assumed he was a beggar and tried to evict him.
Beggars are routinely evicted from Howrah Station. But footage of the incident, captured on a mobile phone, suggests that the RPF jawans clearly overstepped all limits.
One RPF jawan is seen almost sitting on the physically challenged man and pulling his hair.
Shocked bystanders can be heard shouting at the RPF jawans: "Aap kya pagal hain (Are you mad)?" clearly shocked by the scene.
Some bystanders are seen pushing the man seated on a wheelchair. The man is talking. The audio is poor but the man seems to say, "I have come from Delhi. I am here to meet my family."
No one knows where the man now is, say sources in the Railways. Some locals apparently took him to a hospital last night.
After photos of the incident surfaced, officials of Eastern Railways ordered a probe into the incident and promised that action will be taken against the jawans involved.