Patna: A day after Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav announced a state-wide protest on August 19 over the AK-47 firing on students in Siwan, Bihar Police on Thursday announced a ban on the use of assault weapons like AK-47, INSAS and SLR during law-and-order duty and crowd control.
According to the latest instructions issued by the state police headquarters, these weapons will now be used only in cases related to insurgency, terrorism and major crimes.
“No police officer or jawan will be able to use these weapons during law-and-order or crowd-control duty,” the order issued to all SPs and other senior officials said.
The alleged use of an AK-47 rifle during a student protest in Siwan escalated into a political controversy after the main Opposition party, RJD, announced that it would launch a protest march, alleging that no action had been taken against those responsible for the firing, which left three individuals injured.
Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav told the media on Wednesday that the RJD would hold a march in Patna on August 19 against police firing on students during a protest in Siwan.
The march will begin from the party headquarters on Veerchand Patel Path and proceed to Lok Bhavan (earlier known as Raj Bhawan).
He said all RJD MPs, MLAs, MLCs and party workers would participate in the march. He asserted that Bihar would not be allowed to turn into a “police state”.
Tejashwi said the RJD was also in talks with other Opposition parties and would invite them to join the march. He said all Opposition parties should come together to seek justice for the protesting students.
While targeting the state government, he asked who had ordered the firing on the students, saying the entire country wanted an answer on the issue.
Tejashwi questioned the suspension of only a police constable after the Opposition raised the issue.
He asked why action had not yet been taken against the concerned Superintendent of Police (SP). He also thanked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for raising the issue in Parliament.
The RJD leader also targeted the Prime Minister, Bihar Chief Minister and Union Home Minister, alleging that none of them had spoken a word on the issue so far.
He claimed that neither the Chief Minister nor any Deputy Chief Minister had visited the injured students.
“Who would have taken responsibility had an innocent student lost his life during the incident?” he asked.
Tejashwi had earlier met Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Vinay Kumar and expressed his concern over the alleged use of an AK-47 during the students’ protest on July 25.
An RJD delegation led by him had met the DGP and demanded action against the Siwan SP and other senior police officials over the incident.
During his meeting with the DGP, he asked the government to clarify who authorised the use of an AK-47 against the protesting students.
He alleged that such action could not have taken place without orders from senior police officials. He also questioned the silence of Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the incident.
