VELLORE: As the dust settles after the violence that erupted in the streets of Ambur town following the death of Shameel Ahmed allegedly after being tortured while in police custody (whose case has been transferred to the CB-CID) stories are surfacing of how some police constables put their lives at risk to save fellow constables from the unruly mob during the clash and how others were injured on Saturday.
Two constables with the Vellore unit of the Armed Reserve (AR) police saved a woman constable from an unruly group of protestors who were assaulting her while dragging her to an isolated spot. In the process of saving her from being gravely injured, they themselves sustained serious injuries.
Constables M Vijayakumar and P Kumar fought off a mob that was wielding sharp knives, including ones used to skin goats and sustained multiple deep injuries while doing so and had to flee from the attackers after rescuing the woman constable for almost a kilometre before seeking help to get to a hospital.
Kumar sought the help of a motorist to go to the Primary Health Centre at Madhanur. Vijayakumar requested a car driver to drop him off at a medical facility and underwent a surgery at the Christian Medical College. Both have since been referred to the Government Vellore Medical College Hospital. Considering the extent of injuries to the two constables, it is a wonder they managed to reach the hospital on their own.
Constable Vijayakumar (34), a native of Kalavai, was stabbed several times. He is now undergoing treatment for a deep cut that stretches from his buttock to his calf with cuts on his back, left abdomen and head.
His brother Velmurugan said, “he has received 98 stitches for the cut on his leg. We have not informed our parents as they cannot bear the sight of him suffering in pain. He cannot sit on the bed and is in a lot of pain.”
Kumar sustained injuries with stab wounds in his abdomen. Several police personnel have sustained injuries that required stitches.
Rajalakshmi of AR Police of Kancheepuram district and a head constable of Ambur Station sustained serious injuries on their heads with the woman cop underwent surgery at the Christian Medical College Hospital.
Even though there were about 350 policemen deployed when over 2,000 youth (some of them as young as 15 years of age) gathered at 9 pm near OAR Theatre on the National Highway-46 at Ambur to protest the death of Shameel Ahmed, they were caught unawares and unprepared when the protestors turned violent for four hours leaving 38 police personnel, including 10 women constables, injured.
“We were wearing protective gear but many protestors were armed with knives. We were shaken when they launched the attack. They were huge in number,” said an injured policeman.
Pelting of stones and deadly weapons were used to inflict injuries with the protestors also resorting to arson with several vehicles being burned and property being damaged. Some police personnel consider themselves fortunate to have survived the attack. The situation was finally brought under control after Inspector General of Police (north zone) M N Manjunatha arrived close to midnight with a contingent of policemen and boosted the security.
Pictures of the injured police personnel are doing the rounds through WhatsApp with messages asking “Where is the NHRC?(National Human Rights Commission) Are we not human?”