Bihar cop suspended after viral video shows him pointing pistol at flood victims

A senior police officer in Bihar's Saran district has been suspended after a video purporting to show him pointing and waving his service pistol at flood victims during the distribution of relief material went viral on social media — a grim illustration of how the state's most vulnerable are failed by the very machinery meant to protect them. The suspended officer is Sangram Kumar Singh, the station house officer (SHO) of Maker police station. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Roshan Kumar ordered his immediate suspension after the footage, recorded at Rewaghat in the Maker police station area, reached senior officers. The suspension order described Singh's conduct, prima facie, as reflecting "gross negligence towards duty, indiscipline and arbitrary behaviour." According to reports, the incident took place on Saturday at a relief distribution point at Rewaghat, where a large crowd of flood-affected residents had gathered to collect supplies. A dispute broke out between the people present and police personnel during the distribution, and Singh allegedly pulled out his service pistol. The viral video appears to show him pointing the firearm towards people and waving it. The circumstances leading to the confrontation are yet to be independently established. The SHO's suspension is not the only action the state government has taken amid the floods. Seven engineers have also been suspended and departmental proceedings initiated against another official for alleged negligence in handling the flood situation — suggesting the administrative lapses extend well beyond one officer's conduct. Saran is among the districts worst hit by this season's floods. Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary has directed that Rs 7,000 ex-gratia reach every flood-affected family before Dussehra, and the Indian Air Force has flown 15 sorties air-dropping 28 tonnes of food packets over inaccessible areas of Saran. For the victims queueing for relief at Rewaghat, however, the promise of state help arrived accompanied by a drawn pistol — an image that captures the distance between the government's relief claims and the reality on the ground.