'10 more minutes and we would have been burnt...' Woman cop breaks down recollecting Haldwani violence (WATCH)
In a video circulating on social media, a woman cop describes fearing for her life and that of her colleagues when they were attacked by a mob in Haldwani, Uttarakhand
Follow"We would have been burnt alive had the support force not arrived...' said a policewoman who narrated the traumatic experience she encountered during the violence in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. A video has been doing the rounds on social media in which a woman cop is heard narrating how she and her colleagues were cornered by a violent mob in a house.
She said, "It seemed that we would not survive now. If sir had not come, everything would have been over. I even called my husband and told him that we all are going to be burned alive. Bullets and stones from rooftops..."
"We are normal now, but we could not come out of the trauma even two to three days after the incident," she said.
The mob attacked the police and the municipal corporation team after they demolished an illegal madrasa built on illegally encroached government land.
Arrests continue in connection with the violent protests that occurred in Haldwani on February 8, resulting in five fatalities. On Saturday, March 2, the Uttarakhand police apprehended five women, aged between 25 and 50 years, who are residents of Banbhoolpura. This brings the total number of arrests related to the violence to 89.
The unrest erupted following an administrative crackdown on a mosque and a madrasa allegedly constructed on Nazool land. As the situation escalated, with instances of stone pelting, car arson, and the mob besieging the local police station, authorities resorted to issuing shoot-at-sight orders.
Nainital police revealed that three FIRs were lodged at the Banbhoolpura police station, covering charges of assaulting the police station, damaging parked vehicles, and participating in violence during the anti-encroachment operation.
Abdul Malik, identified as a key suspect in the case, along with his son Abdul Moeed, had already been taken into custody. Despite claims by Malik's representatives that he was in Noida, Delhi, and Greater Noida at the time of the violence, an FIR filed by Banbhoolpura police station in-charge Neeraj Bhakuni alleged their direct involvement in leading the mob during the demolition process.
