Two officers, including a deputy commissioner of police, were on Friday removed from field posting within 24 hours of a lathi-charge on Bajrang Dal activists staging an anti-drug mafia protest at a busy intersection in Indore.
The action took place after leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the state took strong objection to the baton charge that took place late Thursday night at Palasia intersection.
Indore Police Commissioner Makrand Deoskar told PTI DCP Dharmendra Singh Bhadoria has been relieved of his current duties and is posted as commandant at the Rustomji Armed Police Training College (RAPTC) in the city, while Palasia police station officer-in-charge Sanjay Singh Bais has been attached to the police line.
An FIR has been registered against "unknown persons" under Sections 147 (rioting), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code in connection with the Bajrang Dal protest, he said.
"Bajrang Dal activists were brutally caned by the police, which led to 11 persons suffering injuries. The action against the protestors is totally unjustified," BJP's Indore unit president Gaurav Randive told PTI.
VHP's Malwa region (Indore-Ujjain division) secretary Sohan Vishwakarma alleged "some police officers selectively beat up Bajrang Dal activists with sticks due to old grudge".
"We demand that DCP Bhadoria, who ordered the lathi charge, as well as an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and three station house officers be dismissed from service within 48 hours," he said.
He said if the state government did not sack these police officers within 48 hours, the VHP would launch a "violent agitation" in Indore and Ujjain divisions.
The police lathi-charged a group of Bajrang Dal activists and arrested 11 of them when they held a sit-in protest over registration of "false" cases against the outfit's members for complaining against those involved in illegal drug trade, Bhadoria had said earlier.
"A group of Bajrang Dal activists suddenly gathered at the busy intersection without any permission and staged a sit-in protest, leading to traffic jams on all four roads. When the protesters refused to budge despite repeated appeals by the police, they were moved away from the spot using mild force," Bhadoria said.
Eleven protesters were arrested under Section 151 (preventive arrest to prevent commission of a cognizable offence) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), he said.
Five police personnel suffered injuries while trying to control the Bajrang Dal activists during their 'chakka jam' protest, while some people also hurled stones at the cops, he added.
However, VHP leader Vishwakarma said Bajrang Dal activists, who were demanding action against the drug mafia, gathered at Palasia intersection when the police asked them to leave Palasia police station."
"The purpose of these activists was not to harass the public by blocking traffic. They did not pelt stones at the police," he claimed.
Talking to reporters in Bhopal on Friday, state Home Minister and government spokesperson Narottam Mishra said he has taken cognisance of the incident.
"We have also taken cognisance of the police action against the protesters and have decided to send an additional director general of police (ADGP)-level officer to probe all issues related to it,” he said.
