Bareilly, April 18 -- Munni Devi, a simple village woman, spent days in jail - not because she was guilty, but because of a terrible case of mistaken identity.
Munni Devi, wife of Janaki Prasad from Bandiya village in CB Ganj, was wrongly arrested on April 13 by Parsakheda police. She had no connection to the actual accused, yet found herself behind bars for theft of electricity - a charge filed against an entirely different woman, also named Munni.
The original warrant was issued against Munni, wife of late Chhote Shah, in a case filed by the electricity department. But when Parsakheda outpost in-charge Saurabh Yadav arrived to arrest the accused, he detained Munni Devi instead - without verifying her identity, her husband's name, or her address. "I kept telling them they had the wrong person," Munni Devi later recalled. "But they would not listen. They just threw me in jail like a criminal."
Her son Rakesh, who works at a local sweet shop, ran from the police station to court trying to free his mother. "She is innocent. Everyone knows it. But no one would believe me," he said. After higher officials were alerted, a report was submitted to a court, and Munni Devi was finally granted bail. When she returned to her village, neighbours gathered in disbelief and sympathy.
When asked what the inspector is saying now, Munni Devi replied: "He is not saying anything. just apologising."
Terming the incident as serious negligence, SSP Anurag Arya has ordered an investigation against outpost in-charge Saurabh Yadav. SP City Manush Pareek has been assigned to look into the case and submit a report.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.