Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav and party supporters protested by sitting under a tree in Etawah
A sit-in by Shivpal Yadav, the once-powerful cabinet minister in Uttar Pradesh and uncle of previous chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, was an unusual sight at a police station in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district on Tuesday night. The police station is just 10 km from the main town of Etawah, the home district of Uttar Pradesh's powerful Yadav family. But now, with a change of government and Yogi Adityanath in charge, the Yadav might seems to be waning.
What provoked Mr Yadav's protest was the alleged thrashing of a Samajwadi Party supporter, Sudhir Yadav, allegedly at the hands of BJP workers and the police.
Sudhir Yadav, a bus driver, has alleged that he was attacked over a political argument. When he went to the police station to complain, he says, the inspector beat him up more. "He started abusing me and asked me how I dared to come into the police station. He then assaulted me and got other policemen to hit me. The people who assaulted me are associated with the BJP. While I was being beaten, the officer got a mango drink and samosas for himself and had them," he said.
This prompted a late night complaint to Shivpal Yadav, who then marched to the police station with over 100 supporters and sat on protest under a tree inside the compound, saying he would not budge until action was taken.
Mr Yadav's supporters raised slogans. "These days... lumpen elements are beating up people, grabbing land, spreading anarchy, and all that the police are doing is to try to silence the victims. This is unacceptable," fumed the former minister.
Finally the district's topmost police officer arrived, ordered an inquiry and assured Mr Yadav in writing that action would be taken. Shivpal Yadav and his supporters went home after four hours.