Daijiworld Media Network

Lucknow, Jun 6: The 'anti-Romeo' squads introduced by the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh have made news now and again for taking law into their hands in their zest to 'protect' women from molesters and eve-teasers. They have been known to mete out instant punishments to dating couples by making them do sit-ups or even slapping them in public. There have been even reports on how the squads demand bribes from couples.

But as an expose by India Today TV shows, the anti-Romeo squads are not just a moral brigade. Members of the squad are ever ready to falsely implicate innocents and send them to jails in exchange for money that runs into several lacs. The India Today TV in its probe observed that the anti-Romeo squad was a mere 'cover' for abuse of authority.

The India Today TV's sting operation team approached the anti-Romeo squad on the pretext of getting a fictitious person sent to jail. The investigating team concocted a story of an imaginary man, a business rival in a consensual relationship with a woman.

The report states that in "Meerut's Transport Nagar, sub-inspector Onkar Nath Pandey offered tips to the undercover team on how to have an innocent man rounded up for no crime".

Pandey, the local head of an anti-Romeo squad, even went to the extent of promising to charge the fictitious man under Arms Act by planting weapons on him. "What I am saying is he should have a companion first (on the street); even if that's a man. Take him into confidence. Let there be a scuffle after drinks. Let that man provoke him (your rival). He'd lose his senses. Then call the police who will pick him up. He'll be prosecuted," Pandey suggested.

"Will he be sent to jail?" asked the India Today TV reporter, to which the cop replied, "Definitely, he'll go to jail. We'll frame him in a weapons' case and he'll be imprisoned." He also demanded Rs 50,000 in exchange for getting the job done.

What's more, unlike in most other cases, the anti-Romeo squads are ready to act suo motu, without even the need of a written complaint. Sub-inspector Vineet Verma, the head of an anti-Romeo squad at a Bulandshahr police station told the undercover reporter, in a conversation recorded on secret cameras, that he was ready to 'harass, beat up or even torture an innocent'. "Nothing in writing (is needed). We'll have him slapped, etc. We'll have it done," he said. He asked the investigative team to send the target's photo to him on WhatsApp, apparently that was all he needed.

Verma's counterpart at Agra's Nai Ki Mandi, Ved Prakash, had another idea to target the fictious man, an idea as appalling as the others. He suggested that he could trap the target in an unresolved case of rioting. "Police were attacked near Haweli Garib Khan. A lot of stone-pelting also happened. A case is registered against 150 people in the rioting. We'll have warrants issued for him from a magistrate court," Prakash said.

Babuddin, part of a special operations group at Ghaziabad's Loni police station, said that it would cost money as police would have to put up hours of work in preparing a good case against the target. "Then, we will be able to pick him up from wherever we want," he said.

"For six months in prison, you'll have to give (Rs) 3 lakh. He will be behind the bars in 36 hours," Babuddin said. His team joined in the discussion, and soon they devised a plan to pick up the fictitious character from his dating spot, have his call details dug out and take him into custody over cooked-up charges.

Probe

Following the revelation by India Today TV, UP police chief Sulkhan Singh asked the ADGs in Meerut and Agra to conduct a preliminary probe and submit the report. He also asked for the career records of all four cops exposed in the findings. A detailed probe will be carried out by the Uttar Pradesh DG headquarters, stated India Today TV report.