Women kin of Chhattisgarh cops detained at protest

THE PROTESTERS WERE DEMANDING BETTER HOUSING FACILITIES, ALLOWANCES, FIXED DUTY HOURS, WEEKLY OFFS FOR THE COPS

RAIPUR: About 90 women family members of lower-rung police personnel of Chhattisgarh were detained on Monday while they were protesting for better facilities from the government. The women were counselled and later let off, police said.

The protesters were demanding better housing facilities, allowances, fixed duty hours and weekly offs, among other things.the police said no cases were registered against them and no actions will be taken against the police personnel whose family members were protesting.

The police also detained about 150 activists belonging to different political parties, mainly the Opposition Congress, who had reached the protest venue in support of the agitating policemen and their families

Hundreds of these protesters were stopped at various places in Raipur when they were trying to reach the Idgah Bhata Maidan where the protest of Chhattisgarh police personnel was scheduled. More than 50 road blocks were put up across the city to ensure the protestors did not reach the ground.

“We had taken about 90 family members to our police camps and counselled them. They later expressed their faith in the government and were sent home. We have not registered any case against the family members although the political party members who came to support in the Maidan were booked and were sent to jail,” said SP Raipur Amresh Mishra.

Mishra added that 40 Congress workers, 70 from Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) and 15 from Bhaujan Samaj Party (BSP) who had arrived at Idgah Bhata ground in support of the women protestors were detained.

“The police calls threatening as counselling. They have crushed the protest by threatening the families and by suspending the policemen and now they are counselling? Our workers who supported the protest were booked under non-bailable sections,” said Amit Jogi of the JCC.