BHOPAL/LUCKNOW: At least nine persons were killed in violence that flared across north and central India on Monday, as protesters clashed with police, vandalised property, burnt vehicles, blocked trains and disrupted road traffic during a nationwide bandh against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court.
The largest number of six deaths was reported from Madhya Pradesh, where mobs clashed in Gwalior, Bhind and Morena districts of the Gwalior-Chambal region. One person was killed in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh in firing between protesters. Another man in Meerut succumbed to his injuries. The ninth death was reported from Alwar in Rajasthan.
At least four of the victims in Madhya Pradesh were Dalits. Curfew was imposed in several places and hundreds were detained. The worst-affected areas in MP were Morar, Thatipur, Maharajpura and Gola Ka Mandir in Gwalior; Gohad, Mehgaon and Lahar in Bhind; and nearly the whole of Morena town in Morena district. Mobs also attacked police stations and outposts in Morar and Dabra areas.
The six men killed in the clashes were Rakesh Jatav, Deepak Jatav and Vimal in Gwalior district, a student leader Rahul Pathak in Morena district and Mahaveer Rajawat and Akash in Bhind district.
“The casualty figure could change, as several people have been injured. At least five others have been critically injured in gunbattles between two groups. They are still fighting despite police efforts to control the violence,” said IG (Intelligence) Makarand Deouskar in Bhopal.
Although there were reports that one person died in Bhind in police firing, Deouskar denied it. “No one has been killed in police firing, as the police only fired in the air at one or two places to clear the violent mob. Otherwise, they wielded the cane and lobbed tear gas shells,” he said.
In the ongoing violence related to the apex court order on the SC/ST Act, apart from the Muzaffarnagar and Meerut deaths, almost 75 people – including nearly 40 policemen were injured in in Meerut, Agra, Aligarh, Saharanpur, Hapur and Ghaziabad. Muzaffarnagar and Meerut were the worst affected. There was tension in Azamgarh and Gorakhpur too.Many trains were stopped ahead of Ghaziabad at Meerut and Modinagar. In Ghaziabad, protesters targeted an AIIMS bus and clashed with the police, forcing the administration to deploy extra forces and to announce the closure of schools on Monday.
“We have rounded up 448 people who will be booked under the IPC and Destruction of Public Property Act,” said DIG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar. More than 200 trouble makers were detained in Meerut alone.
In Punjab, particularly affected were Patiala, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Barnala, Ropar, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Moga, Sangrur, Ludhiana and Bathinda. There were protests in Chandigarh too. At Panchkula in Haryana, protesters brandishing canes took out a march. In Rajasthan, 26 people were injured in Alwar district. In Patna, protesters stormed the railway station, forced closure of ticket counters and squatted on the rail tracks.