Gurgaon protests turn ugly, vandals attack school bus
GURGAON: Students and staff of GD Goenka World school in Sohna had a narrow escape, while some passengers travelling in a Ha ryan a Roadways bus were injured when miscreants attacked the two buses in Gurgaon on Wednesday allegedly protesting the release of Bollywood film Padmaavat.
Police said the buses were attacked within half an hour of each other on the Sohna Road in B ho nd si village, which has a sizeable population of Raj puts who claim the film distorts history and is disrespectful to legendary queen Padmavati.
“There were incidents where a school bus was vandalised and a Haryana Roadway bus was torched,” Gurgaon commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said in the evening, adding 24 people were arrested.
However, parents of the students, who were in the bus, alleged that the police had failed in assessing the situation, and this had put the lives of their children in danger. The video of the school bus attack shows broken glasses, and teachers pushing minor students on the floor, while they cried for safety. It was due to the alertness of the bus driver and the attendants that none of the studentswere injured in the harrowing attack. Despite repeated efforts the school authorities refused to comment.
With police primarily expecting trouble in malls and multi- plexes where Padmaavat was scheduled to be released, there was little police presence in Bhondsi.
The Congress called the attack on the schoolkids as “unacceptable, reprehensible and devastating” and attacked the Haryana government for “deteriorating” law and order situation in the state. “Terrified children cry inconsolably and anarchy prevails. The Khattar government fails again miserably in upholding law and order,” party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.
A group of 50-60 masked men carrying stones, iron rods, and petrol stopped the roadways bus at around 2.30 pm close to a temple. They threw stone sat around 25 passengers. The passengers managed to get out but the group do used the bus with pet roland set it on fire, the conductor said.
Some passengers suffered minor injuries and a few private vehicles were damaged in the stone pelting, said police, who fired in the air and carried out a lat hi charge to bring the situation under control. A few minutes earlier, bus of GD Goenka World school was pelted with stones on the same stretch 500 m away.