Bharat Bandh: Policeman mistakenly lathi-charges Patna SDM | Watch

Bharat Bandh: In a bizarre incident, Patna Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Shrikant Kundlik Khandekar was on Wednesday mistakenly hit by a policeman during the lathi charge against the protesters who stormed the roads of the state capital as part of the day-long Bharat Bandh.

In a viral video shared on microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), a policeman can be seen hitting SDM Shrikant Kundlik Khandekar, standing in the middle of the road, and dispersing the protestors. As soon as the baton hits the SDM, he is seen agitated, and other policemen present at the scene quickly stop the cop and explain to him who the person is. The policemen then escorted the SDM away from the scene.

The policeman apologized for the mistake. Later, the two were seen engaging in a conversation.

The video quickly went viral, amassing 408.4K views, 9.7K likes, and 522 comments since it was posted at 1:47 p.m. today. The incident occurred at the busy Dak Bangla square in Bihar's capital.

Reacting to the bizarre incident, many netizens—who found it amusing— said, “Man got a taste of his own system.” Another user said, “Galti se mistake ho gaya 😂😂” , while another said, “When you aim for the crowd but end up hitting the boss – classic!,” “Looks like someone needs a refresher course on who’s who!” Another user commented.

The Patna police used lathi charges to disperse protestors who blocked traffic at Dak Bungalow Chowk in the state capital. Rajeev Mishra, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Patna, said that the lathi charge was used to disperse the protestors, who broke the police barricade and disrupted vehicular traffic.

“Security personnel resorted to mild lathi-charge to disperse protestors who blocked movement of traffic at Dak Bungalow Chowk and later broke police barricade. No one was injured in the incident. Now the situation is completely under control,” he said to PTI.

It is important to note that the Bharat Bandh is being observed on the call of ‘Reservation Bachao Sangharsh Samiti’ against an August 1 ruling by the Supreme Court. In its judgement, a seven-judge bench, headed by CJI DY Chandrachud, ruled that state governments can give further sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to ensure the grant of quota to more backward castes inside these groups.

The organisers demand that the Supreme Court judgment be ‘reversed’ and the central government ‘reject’ the ruling.