In a striking incident that highlights the deep frustrations surrounding India’s digital infrastructure, villagers in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur district tied a telecom technician to a mobile tower. The event, which took place on September 10, 2026, in Hardauli village under the Bindki police station area, was a desperate protest against persistent network failures that residents claimed had plagued them for nearly two years.
The technician, identified as Aditya Bhan Singh, a resident of Basawanpur, had gone to the village to inspect the local power supply at the telecom site when a group of villagers confronted him. According to police, the residents were angry over the lack of proper 5G connectivity despite a private telecom tower being installed in the area about two years earlier. They alleged that the network problems had disrupted phone calls, internet access, online classes, and digital payments, even as they continued to pay full recharge charges for inadequate service.
The confrontation escalated when some villagers allegedly detained Singh and tied him to the tower, demanding that the 5G connectivity issue be resolved. A video of the incident, which later went viral on social media, showed the technician restrained near the tower while villagers surrounded him. In the footage, a villager is heard saying the technician would not be released until senior company officials arrived to address the problem.
Another villager alerted the police 112 helpline, and officers rushed to the spot, freeing Singh and taking him to the police station. Based on Singh’s complaint, police registered an FIR under Section 127(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against unidentified villagers at Bindki police station. Later, six individuals were arrested in connection with the incident. They were identified as Rahul Patel (28), Suraj Yadav (21), Alok Patel (29), Yogendra Patel (36), Alok Yadav (31), and Sachin Patel (30). They were produced before a magistrate and subsequently released on bail.
Fatehpur Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Manglik confirmed that the matter came to the police’s attention through social media. He stated that villagers had claimed the area had been facing poor mobile connectivity, particularly 5G services, for nearly two years despite the presence of a telecom tower. Police also noted that the villagers had made a video demonstrating the lack of 5G connectivity on their phones, and locals claimed they were purchasing 5G data plans but receiving poor 4G connectivity instead.
This incident occurs against a backdrop of widespread misinformation about 5G technology in India. During the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy theories linking 5G towers to the spread of the virus led to the destruction of over 20 signal towers in various parts of the country within a span of three weeks.
Such misinformation has fueled public anxiety and, in some cases, aggressive actions against telecom infrastructure. While the Hardauli incident was driven by service quality grievances rather than health concerns, it underscores the broader tensions between rural communities and telecom providers in India.
The case remains under investigation, and the viral video has drawn significant attention to the challenges of rural connectivity in the country.
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