Samajwadi Party lawmaker Ramesh Yadav's nephew Mohit Yadav is seen slapping a police officer.
Highlights
- Mohit Yadav slapped a sub-inspector and abused others
- He is unemployed and his father runs a gun shop
- His uncle Ramesh Yadav is a member of the UP legislative council
The young man announced his name with much swagger, before striking the cop who had hauled him to the police station, also shouting abuses and threats at other police officers. He seemed to expect better treatment because he is the nephew of the Samajwadi Party lawmaker of the area in Etah, western Uttar Pradesh.
The attack was caught on camera. "Mohit Yadav is my name and this man...," said the 24-year-old in Hindi, before slapping sub-inspector Jitendra Kumar hard. As police officers rushed to control him, he also grabbed the collar of one of them. Mr Yadav has been arrested and charged with assault and obstructing an official from duty.
Mohit Yadav is the nephew of Ramesh Yadav, a member of the state's legislative council and a senior leader of the Samajwadi Party, which was ousted by the BJP in the UP assembly elections two months ago. The arrogance of power clearly is yet to fade.
While the Samajwadi Party's five-year term under former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was marked by several incidents of high handedness and lawlessness by politicians and their relatives, police officers say they are now under strict orders from new Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to spare no one who breaks the law.
Mr Yadav, an unemployed man whose father runs a gun shop, had this morning visited a hospital with a relative and demanded VIP treatment for an x-ray, refusing to wait for their turn. When he was refused, Mohit Yadav allegedly beat up a lab technician and assaulted a doctor. The hospital called in the cops, who took him to the police station.
"It seems he was under the influence of alcohol," said Satyarth Anirudh Pankaj, a senior police officer.
Last month Mahendra Yadav, a legislator of the ruling party BJP, was caught on camera assaulting staff at a tool booth because his cavalcade was not allowed to pass through without paying toll. The police have filed a First Information Report and say they are investigating.