Fatehpur Villagers Tie Technician to Mobile Tower in Protest Over Poor Network

Villagers in Hardauli, a village in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur district, tied a telecom technician to a mobile tower on Thursday, venting frustration over mobile network problems they said had persisted for two years despite a tower standing in their area.

A video of the incident circulated widely on social media, showing the man bound to the tower structure with a crowd of villagers gathered around. In the clip, a person recording the scene says the residents acted out of anger over the long-running network troubles.

According to the villagers, they had repeatedly complained to the telecom company about weak signals and poor 5G service, but their grievances went unaddressed. They said they were paying for prepaid recharges that promised 5G connectivity yet were unable to make calls or access the internet reliably.

The confrontation escalated when the tower worker arrived in the village. Residents tied him to the tower and said he would not be released until company officials came to the village and resolved the issue.

Police reached the spot after being informed and freed the technician. Shailesh Singh, station in-charge of Bindki police station, said the preliminary investigation indicated that anger over the mobile network situation had driven the villagers to restrain the worker.

"The villagers were troubled by the mobile network issue, which led them to tie the tower worker to the tower," Singh said.

A case has been registered on the complaint of the technician. Police said they are examining the circumstances of the incident and the viral video to establish the sequence of events and identify those involved.