On Sunday, disturbing footage emerged from Dera Bassi in Punjab's Mohali district, showing a police officer shooting a man in the thigh during a fistfight that was caught on camera.
The viral video shows a group of men and women having an argument with the sub-inspector, before he fires his service revolver.
On Tuesday, the police officer was suspended and a case was filed against him.
The police later identified the injured man as Hitesh Aggarwal (24), a resident of Habetpur Village, Derabassi. Hitesh has sustained a gunshot wound on his leg and was admitted to Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Sector 32, Chandigarh, where he was yet to be operated upon.
The entire incident which has been captured on a camera clearly shows the couple along with a few of their relatives arguing with the police team.
Later, they gheraoed an officer following which the unarmed man got shot in his thigh and was seen bleeding as he crippled back. It is pertinent to note that many other officers who were also there at the site did not intervene or try to calm down the dispute or prevent the mishap.
The police said the incident occurred at 10:45 pm when the Mubarikpur police post in-charge, ASI Balwinder Singh, was manning the check post at Habetpur. The police team stopped a couple riding a motorcycle and asked them to get their bag checked. They started hurling abuses and refused to get the bag checked.
Balwinder said the man called his friends, including Hitesh, and they gheraoed the police party. They attacked the police with sticks and bricks. They tried to save their lives by running away but the group chased them and also damaged the police vehicle.
Balwinder said fearing that the assailants could harm them, he fired a shot into the air to scare them off, but they still charged towards them. He fired another shot at the main accused below the waist in self-defence.
However, after the video went viral, the victim's brother told news agency ANI, "We were standing on Hebatpur Road when police arrived and misbehaved with us. They wanted to check my wife's bag. They were drunk and then fired at my brother."
The video shows a policeman arguing with some people and then slapping a woman, at which point her family members confront the cops, leading to a fight and the gunshot.
