A screengrab of the video from Shamshabad vegetable market.
After a video of a baton-wielding police officer forcing vegetable vendors to leave a market, while vegetable sacks were being loaded onto a police vehicle, went viral recently, the Cyberabad police has issued a clarification, stating the personnel were “not snatching” vegetables but were enforcing social distancing norms.
The one-minute video clip is from Shamshabad vegetable market, and policemen from the RGI Airport police station can be seen asking vendors to leave.
“A video is being circulated on social media from Shamshabad vegetable market, where is is being claimed that the RGIA police were snatching away vegetables from the vendor. We would like to bring to your notice that there is a token system at the said market. Without taking tokens and maintaining physical distance norms, some vendors started selling vegetables,” said a statement from Shamshabad DCP N Prakash Reddy.
According to him, the vegetables were seized from the vendors and cases were registered against them. “The vendors were selling vegetables violating the norms. All the vendors were taken into custody booked under 188 IPC3 of Epidemic Diseases Act and 51 clause B of Disaster management Act, 2005,” he said.
Further, the DCP said that the Muncipal Commissioner has marked circles on the ground to enforce social distancing, but, without obeying the orders, a vendor named Chandu sat in between the circles. His vegetables were thus handed over to the market committee for selling and the proceeds will be deposited in court.
