Lucknow, January 16
Several doctors were injured in a clash with a group of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PCA) jawans in Allahabad-bound Meerut Nauchandi Express train near Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, leading to a strike by the doctors in many medical colleges across the state, police sources said here today..jpg)
The trouble started when a group of doctors, returning from Meerut after the PG medical entrance examination, asked the PAC jawans to vacate the reserved seats in the sleeper compartment of the train last night.
The PAC personnel, however, refused to vacate the S-3 coach and instead allegedly beat the doctors and some passengers, the sources said.
When the train reached Moradabad, more PAC personnel joined their colleagues and both the sides virtually fought a pitched battle in the running train, they added.
Several doctors suffered injuries, the sources said adding the medics have alleged that five of their colleagues were thrown out of the moving train by the PAC men.
Additional Superintendent of Police, GRP, Rampur, Mr Amitabh Yash, said some of the doctors received serious injuries and were being treated in Moradabad and Meerut hospitals.
Mr Yash said the PAC jawans had occupied the reserved seats in the train, but it was the doctors who first roughed them up leading to the trouble.
He denied the doctors’ claims that five of their colleagues were missing and they had been thrown out of the moving train by the PAC men.
The agitated doctors stopped several trains at Rampur Railway Station demanding action against the PAC jawans. The train traffic on Lucknow-Delhi section of the Northern Railway was consequently affected and several long distance trains, including the Lucknow Mail and Shaheed Express, were held up for several hours, the sources said.
The doctors in medical colleges across the state went on a lightning strike in protest against the clash.
However, emergency services in these hospitals would not be affected by the strike.
In Lucknow, the doctors took out peace march from King George Medical University (KGMU) to Chief Minister’s residence this afternoon to show their resentment against the incident.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government today ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident, in
which at least 17 persons were injured.
The government had already suspended four GRP personnel who did not intervene when the incident occurred in a sleeper coach at Meerut.
State Principal Secretary Home Alok Sinha said here the inquiry would be conducted by the Commissioner Moradabad and none would be spared, if found guilty in the probe.
However, Mr Sinha said a district police recruit Vijendra Sharma was critically injured when unidentified persons threw him out of the train after beating him severely.
“We think the trouble started after Vijendra was thrown out of the train,” he added.
Altogether, nine policemen and eight doctors were injured in the clash and all of them were treated in the Moradabad hospital.
