‘I rushed to my baby… she was no longer breathing’: Infant’s death during police raid puts Alwar village on edge

Police have filed an FIR over the incident, naming two police personnel. Five personnel have been told to report to Alwar police headquarters and the former SHO of Naogaon police station, Ajeet Badsara, is awaiting posting orders. No personnel has been suspended yet with police saying that further action would be taken after completing their investigation into the matter.

The incident took place around 6 am on March 2. Razeeda, a mother of three, recalled that she and her family were sleeping when the police team started knocking on their door. When she opened the door, she was brushed aside by police personnel who went straight inside towards her husband, who had barely woken up, Razeeda said.

“My newborn was sleeping on the cot beside the bed where my husband was sleeping with our two sons. While two police personnel entered the room, I warned them that my child was sleeping on the cot but they ignored me. As the police dragged my husband out of the house, I rushed towards my baby and saw that her nose had bled and that she was no longer breathing,” the mother said.

She said police took her husband away and let him go just outside the villager border. The family denied that he had anything to do with cyber crime.

Members of the family then went to the Naogaon police station, where the personnel who raided the home were from, to file a complaint.

Razeeda’s brother-in-law, Shaukeen Meo (35), alleged that police at the station initially denied that any such incident happened and forcefully made them sign a blank paper.

“Later, we got to know that on that paper, officials wrote that the child was already sick and that this was the reason for her death. We never consented to this, but they did all this to save their officers,” alleged Shaukeen.

Alwar SP Sanjeev Nain told The Indian Express that he was not aware of police making the family sign such a paper and Additional SP Atul Sahu refused to comment, saying the matter is under investigation.

With their initial visit to the police station not successful, the family and other members of the community took the body of the infant to the SP’s residence in protest. In the evening, an FIR was registered, naming constables Girdhari and Jagveer, under BNS section 103(1), which deals with punishment of murder.

Later, a postmortem was conducted and the body was subsequently buried at the village burial ground. Officials said they have not yet received the postmortem report.

Crackdown on cyber fraud

On the morning of the infant’s death, police raided multiple houses in the village, purportedly in search of cyber criminals.

The Mewat region in Rajasthan is known to be a hub of cyber crime, and hundreds of cases from all over India have been registered against people from the region — which includes the districts of Alwar and Bharatpur —in connection with such cases.

Additional SP Tejpal Singh said police have blocked 1,51,544 SIM cards since 2022 after they were found to be involved in cyber crime.

To curb cyber fraud in the region, police officers said they were constantly conducting raids trying to locate cyber criminals. The raid at Imran and Razeeda’s house was part of one such operation, according to officers.

Rising anger

The death of the infant has led to rising anger in the village. Maulana Tahir, an activist helping the family, said residents are demanding the suspension of officers from the police station and the arrest of those accused in the case.

On the police personnel being told to report to headquarters, Tahir said, “Is this punishment enough for someone who killed a newborn baby? Police and administration want the matter to cool down in a few days and later release all the culprits.”

A sit-in protest has been underway for the past week in front of the family’s house, with protesters saying that if the suspensions and arrests are not forthcoming, they will take the protest to the streets.

SP Nain said action would be taken after the investigation. “The investigation has been given to Bhiwadi Additional SP Atul Sahu, who visited the area on Monday… We will take action against the accused officials once the (investigation) report is submitted. Until then, it would be too soon to say anything,” he said.

Alwar’s Principal Medical Officer Sunil Chauhan said the final postmortem and the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report were yet to arrive and that the cause of the infant’s death would become clear only after these are received.

Political storm

The incident has set off a political storm in Rajasthan. Congress’s Tikaram Jully, the Leader of the Opposition, visited Alwar district and accused the government of harassing innocent people in the name of cyber fraud.

“In the state Assembly, the government gave assurance that they are taking action against the cyber fraud, but officials are arresting innocent people to extort money from them. Police went to the house of the victim in Raghunathpura for the same reason and killed a child. The BJP is not serious about this case, and only after pressure from the Opposition were officials from outside the district appointed to investigate the case,” said Jully.

CPI(M) Alwar district secretary Raisa, who visited the family, said that around six police personnel entered the room, but the FIR was filed against only two constables.

“The entire police station should be suspended in this case. Also, I agree that police have a right to curb the criminal activities, but who has given them the right to punish the accused. We demand compensation for the family, which is already living on the meagre salary of a labourer. This is a misuse of power by police personnel of Rajasthan,” Raisa said.

Local residents claimed that no senior officials of the district or elected representatives of Alwar visited the family.