About 70 people, including three women, were injured in the police action at Baba Ramdev's satyagrah camp at the Ramlila Maidan here in the early hours of Sunday. An elderly woman and a young man are said to have suffered serious injuries.
Gurgaon resident Rajbala, who is in her 50s, has sustained serious injuries. She was reportedly hit below the neck with a stick, and suffered spinal injuries. “She is stable right now, but if her vertebra disintegrates she can have paralysis,” said one of her attending doctors as she was being shifted to the neurosurgery department of the nearby G. B. Pant Hospital for spinal surgery on Sunday afternoon.
“There was no one to attend to her [Rajbala] when she was brought here. The hospital authorities took one-and-a-half hours to run X- rays and CT- scans,” said one of Baba Ramdev's followers, who accompanied the injured woman.
A 24-year-old man, whose name could not be ascertained, was operated upon for a skull fracture on Sunday morning. He was shifted to the intensive care unit for post-operative treatment. He is recovering well, according to hospital sources. Two other persons who suffered fractures and lacerations were also said to be stable.
Supporters of Baba Ramdev attending to the injured said most people had suffered stomach-, head- and spine-related injuries.
The injured who reached the LNJP Hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning said they were made to wait for over an hour before the hospital authorities took any action. Most of them were admitted to the hospital around 5 a.m. on Sunday. By evening, the majority of them had been discharged leaving about ten who were still being treated.
Several people moved to other hospitals for treatment, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and other private hospitals in the city.
Many of the injured were reported to have refused to eat or drink during treatment, insisting on continuing with their fast as part of the satyagrah .
Eyewitness accounts
According to Modinagar (Uttar Pradesh) resident Lokendra Kumar, who sustained injuries on his face and stomach after being hit by sticks, people inside the camp were sleeping on Saturday night when the police action began. “They began kicking and hitting people with sticks. Many were hit in the stomach and back,” he said.
Bharat Swabhiman Trust Kanauj (U.P.) district coordinator Alok Solanki said people were “kicked, punched and hit with sticks,” and the struggle continued for over two-and-a-half hours.
