Day after violence, normalcy returns to state
UNEASY CALM Apart from Karauli, which saw retaliation by nonDalits, other parts of state remained peaceful. Over 1,000 persons arrested JAIPUR:
A day after the state was rocked by protests by Dalit groups, the situation returned to normal in most parts of the state. However, Karauli’s Hindaun saw a massive retaliation by non-Dalits, who were allegedly angered by the Dalit assertion.
The mob burnt the house of former legislator Bharosi Lal Jatav and ransacked the home of Rajkumari Jatav, legislator from Hindaun. The mob had tried to enter the Jatav locality but were stopped and dispersed by the police using tear-gas, batons and by firing in the air. A curfew was imposed in Hindaun following the clash.
On Monday, Dalit protests and their call for Bharat Bandh had led to clashes and violence in several parts of the state. A 27-year old protester was killed in Alwar in police firing. In Jodhpur, a sub-inspector of police suffered a heart attack while managing the situation on Monday. He passed away on Tuesday afternoon while being taken to an Ahmedabad hospital.
The police also arrested over 1,000 persons on charges of rioting, vandalism, breach of peace and other charges over the past two days.
“Some have been taken into preventive custody while others have been arrested in various cases. The arrests are still going on,” said NRK Reddy, additional director general of police, law and order.
In Ajmer, 17 persons, including former minister Rajkumar Jaipal and former city mayor Kamal Bakolia, were arrested under Section 151 of CrPC for allegedly instigating violence during bandh on Monday.
In Barmer, police lodged five separate cases and booked more than five hundred people, including Dalit leaders, for causing damage to private and public property, disturbing law and order, blocking the national highway and other charges.
The ADG added that 23 paramilitary companies had been deployed across the state to ensure peace. “Three companies of Border Security Force (BSF) have been deployed in Bharatpur, three in Jalore, two in Sawai Madhopur, two in Barmer, and the remaining in Bikaner, Sikar, Karauli, Ajmer, Nagaur, Udaipur, Dungarpur and Bhilwara,” said Reddy.
Apart from this two Rapid Action Force (RAF) companies and seven Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC) companies were deployed in Alwar. outfit has around 27,000 officebearers in Rajasthan, but mostly in the districts. “We want to take our organisation to the tehsil level,” said the 33-year-old businessman from Bikaner’s Dungargarh town.
Anil Tirdia, in charge of Bheem Sena in Rajasthan, said the organisation was formed in Maharashtra in 2011. “It is a body of the Dalit youth,” the law graduate informed and clarified that Monday’s strike happened without anybody leading it and he was surprised at how it took a violent turn. “Bheem Sena did not give a call for Bharat Bandh. My understanding is that the movement built on social media and people just got together to take out rallies,” he said.
Meen Sena took out a procession from Jagatpura to the Jaipur district collector’s office in Banipark on Monday. Pankaj Meena blamed the administration for the violence. “We gave a notice for the bandh two days in advance but the district administration didn’t take it seriously. If people had kept their establishments closed, there wouldn’t have been any violence,” he said.
Bheem Sena’s Rajendra Meghwal blamed “Manuwadi forces” for the clashes. “People who wanted to make our protest unsuccessful incited violence,” he said, adding that it was decided at a meeting called for the bandh on March 31 to keep the protests peaceful. “We even told our workers not to shout slogans against the Supreme Court or carry placards against the court. We didn’t want the protest to be unconstitutional,” Meghwal said.
Dalit groups called the Bharat Bandh demanding restoration of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in its original form. The Supreme Court introduced on March 20 the provision of anticipatory bail in the law, in a bid to protect honest public servants discharging bona fide duties from being blackmailed with false cases.