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Minister's guards held for bashing Srinagar traffic cop

Two security guards of a senior Jammu and Kashmir minister were arrested after they roughed up a traffic police officer in summer capital Srinagar on Monday.

Mohan Lal, the traffic police officer, had tried to prevent the minister's cavalcade from jumping the red light at a critical three-way crossing on the Maulana Azad road, one of the busiest roads in Srinagar.

Guards of Jammu and Kashmir Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din jumped out of their escort vehicle, caught hold of the traffic police sub-inspector and subjected him to a severe beating for his temerity in stopping the minister's cavalcade which had to halt as the red signal was on for that side of the road.

A guard had punched the Sub-Inspector Mohan Lal on his right eye leaving him bleeding profusely.

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'They should not have done this to me'

"I was doing my duty, when the escorts of the minister jumped the light. We stopped them and they came out and tried to beat my constable. To this I objected and they cocked their guns and thrashed me with butts. The minister was inside the car and he was watching the entire incident. I am a government employee. They should not have done this to me," Mohan Lal later told India Today.

The officer had to be hospitalised and continues under treatment at the police hospital.

As the news reached higher ups, both the guards -- police constables Mohammad Shafi and Mohammad Abbas -- were arrested.

The minister has, however, denied his guards "had done anything nasty with the officer.

He said there was only a minor scuffle. "It was I who had been instrumental in the installations of the traffic lights in the city," Taj told mediapersons on Tuesday.

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