Over 200 youth from Harijanwada locality caught police by surprise with a flash protest near Shettybavi Chowk and later outside the office of Deputy Commissioner here on Monday demanding the arrest of Congress functionary Murali Yadav and his associates who were booked under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, for attacking three dalit youths from Harijanwada on Friday evening.
Earlier in the day, Superintendent of Police Chetan Singh Rathod, along with senior police officers, had met agitating people at Harijanwada community hall and tried to convince them. The people, who seemed to have nodded, started to march from Harijanwada all-of-a-sudden through Vivekananda Chowk and Shettybavi Chowk asking merchants to down shutters. Some reportedly pelted stones at business establishments. The police then intervened and stopped agitators at Shettybavi Chowk. Enraged agitators raised slogans alleging that the police, bowing to pressure from Congress leaders, were protecting the accused. When heated arguments between police and the agitating youth began to turn into a violent agitation, the police mildly lathicharged and dispersed the mob.
Some of the youths, however, managed to join another team and staged a demonstration outside the office of Deputy Commissioner demanding that the police book Murali Yadav and his associates under Section 307 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for ‘inhumanly’ attacking the dalit youth and critically injuring them.
Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil, along with the Superintendent of Police, met the agitators and clarified that the accused were already booked under Section 307 of the IPC. He also said that police teams had been sent to nab the accused. “There is no question of favouring anybody. The law will take its course,” he said.
“Attempt-to-murder charges were not framed in the First Information Report as the victims, in their initial statement, had not said anything that would attract such charges. Based on the subsequent statements of the victims, we have got permission from the jurisdictional magistrate and reframed the charges invoking Section 307 of IPC,” the Superintendent of Police told The Hindu.
