VELLORE: A group of around 30 students of the Government Law College tried to stage a rail-roko at Katpadi railway station on Wednesday alleging that the Railway Protection Force (RPF) police personnel had severely beaten 6 of their college-mates on Tuesday evening, for no reason and threw them on to the tracks.
Acting on the information, Deputy Superintendent of Police of Katpadi V Mathivanan tried to pacify the students but in vain. Students demanded the arrest of the RPF policemen, who had allegedly assaulted their college mates—Manikandan, Umesh, Arun, Madhivanan, Sathish and Praveen, all second year students of Law College. “Praveen sustained an injury on his eyebrow and had to get four stitches,” said one of the students.
The DSP asked the students to register a case against the RPF in the railway police station. The students neither accepted his suggestion nor were they willing to leave the junction. They asked the police to produce the RPF personnel before them. “Our students have been beaten up by vendors and the RPF personnel. They also pushed them on the track. It is condemnable and we need proper explanation and suitable action,” demanded a student.
On questioning the students as to why they did not file a complaint against the vendors, the student said, “We will handle them later in our own way.” The agitated students left the railway station after the Government Railway Police (GRP) in the station filed a case against the RPF police personnel, who were on duty on Tuesday evening.
It all started when the group of students of the Government Law College in an inebriated condition, created a ruckus in platform-II around 5 pm on Tuesday, said a police official attached to the GRP. “The students consumed liquor in the platform and created a public nuisance. A group of commuters and a few vendors questioned their activities. The students abused the vendors that led to a fistfight. On seeing this, other vendors joined together and thrashed the students,” said the police official.
The RPF police officials intervened to pacify both the groups but the students abused the them, said the official. In the melee, the students broke window glasses of the waiting hall. In connection with the incident, the GRP at Katpadi Station filed a case against the students under Section 75 of the Madras City Police Act and 4 (1) (j) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act and 427 of Indian Penal Code.
Regular commuters said, the students coming from Chennai were frequently creating a ruckus at the station. Tuesday’s incident was just one of them and according to the commuters even the police hesitate to question them. “If somebody questions their wrongdoings, they threaten them saying that they dare not question law college students,” said a samosa vendor in the railway station. Several coolies in the station also echoed the same. The station master refused to comment on the issue.