‘They threw his Army card in his face… pinned him to a pole and beat him’: Kin of Army jawan attacked by Meerut toll staff

As they neared the Bhuni toll plaza, however, all hell broke loose.

Their car was behind three or four other vehicles. “There was already a commotion with another driver; cars were not moving forward. Kapil rolled down his window, showed his Army card, and told the staff he had a flight to catch. But… they began abusing him,” Shivam claimed.

“They threw his Army card back in his face and punched him. Enraged, Kapil got out to object. That was when they surrounded him and started hitting him,” he said.

Within minutes, the Army jawan was allegedly pinned to a pole and beaten with sticks and rods by a group of toll plaza workers. The incident, captured on video by a bystander, showed one of the assailants picking up a rock as abuses were hurled in the background.

“Seven to eight people ganged up on him. I rushed to help, but they caught me too and started beating me,” added Shivam.

At the hospital in Meerut where Kapil is admitted, his arms were wrapped in bandages, and his body bore multiple bruises. According to his family, he cannot walk without support and has deep cuts across his body.

The family said he was excited to return to Kashmir after his break. “We spent the whole night at the hospital. Kapil keeps asking when he can return to duty — but right now, he can barely stand,” Shivam said.

The family said he had returned home a month ago after serving during ‘Operation Sindoor’, and spent his break taking part in the Kanwar Yatra with Shivam.

Kapil’s elder brother, who is also in the Army, had come home about a week earlier. On the very morning of the incident, he had crossed the same toll plaza on his way back to rejoin duty.

“Both brothers enlisted in the Army the same year — subah bhai chala gaya duty pe, aur shaam ko yeh haal ho gaya (the elder brother left in the morning, and this happened in the evening),” Shivam said, adding that the elder brother is on his way back to be with the family.
Meanwhile, after news of the assault spread, residents of Ghotka village went to the toll plaza the next day, allegedly vandalising the property and demanding that it be shut down.
“This was not an isolated incident,” Kapil’s father said.

“My son only requested them to hurry, but 8-10 men attacked him. They even injured my nephew and another man who tried to intervene.”

Following a complaint by Kapil’s family, the police filed an FIR at the Sarurpur police station. Seven of the eight accused have been arrested, they said.

Taking cognizance of the incident, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 20 lakh on the toll collecting agency and initiated the process to terminate its contract.

The family, however, claimed that the attack was not an isolated incident.

“Our village is just six km from the toll booth. Fights break out there almost every day, and the staff misbehave with commuters. At night, they are often drunk. But there is nobody to keep a check,” Shivam alleged.

Ajay Shukla, Station House Officer, Sarurpur, had said earlier, “There was a long queue at the toll booth, the jawan was getting late to catch his flight and requested the toll staff to let him bypass the long line. They told him to reverse his car, but he refused, saying he could not reverse it anymore. This turned into an argument, and eventually, they started beating him up.”

Editor's Choice

‘Misplaced’: India rejects Bangladesh’s allegations of Awami League ‘activities’ in Delhi, Kolkata

Personnel shortage ‘existential threat’ to aviation safety: House panel bats for full autonomy to DGCA

‘Privilege, not a right’: US tightens citizenship rules with new ‘good moral character’ test