Karnal, December 1
On the eve of the “janhit rally” in Rohtak, Bhajan Lal and Kuldeep Bishnoi supporters, led by dissident Congress MLA from Indri Rakesh Kamboj, were thrashed by the police at Atal Park here today. Many demonstrators and journalists were injured in the unprovoked police action.
The police did not even spare vehicles of the
protesters. The rear windscreen of the vehicle of The Tribune correspondent was smashed. Dozens of protesters suffered injuries, but not a single policeman was hurt in the action.
The protesters had gathered at the park, located in Sector 9, at 12 noon to protest against the district administration for illegally impounding taxis yesterday. At 4 p.m. the protesters got into their vehicles to take out a rally.
When the lead vehicle of the convoy reached National Highway 1, the police, which had gathered there in strength and was in riot control gear, stopped it from proceeding. When Rakesh Kamboj tried to reason with the police, all of a sudden policemen started raining lathis on him and his supporters. The police also fired teargas shells to disperse the crowd.
Kamboj was surrounded and given a thrashing. His bodyguards took him back to the park where again he was cornered and beaten up by policemen. He was admitted to the civil hospital. According to sources, he suffered a fracture in his right leg.
Chander Prakash, Aaj Tak journalist, was hit on the head with a lathi by the police in spite of identifying himself. Chaman Lal, photographer with Amar Ujala, was hit on the arm and the camera of Dharam Singh, photographer with Dainik Bhaskar, was damaged.
Within no time the protesters dispersed with the police hot on their heels. When the policemen could not find anybody to thrash, they turned their attention to the vehicles parked there and smashed windscreens, windows and headlights.
Deputy commissioner of Karnal B. S. Malik, when contacted, said at the time the protesters were taking out the rally, a VIP was passing on NH-1.
“Fearing that they would block the highway, we ordered them to stop.When they did not heed our request, the police had to take action,” Malik said.
Karnal SP A.S.Chawla said that the protesters were trying to block the national highway. In no case could this have been allowed.The Supreme Court had issued strict orders that national highways could not be blocked in any case.When the police tried to persuade the protesters not to block the highway, they paid no heed and, as a last resort, the police had to resort to a lathi charge.
K. B. Pandit, president, Haryana Patarkar Sangh, condemned the lathicharge and demanded that strong action should be taken against the police officials who ordered the action. He added that all those who suffered injuries or whose vehicles were damaged should be compensated.
DGP’s statement
Chandigarh:: The Haryana public relations department issued a statement quoting DGP R.S. Dalal with regard to the police action in Karnal.
Haryana DGP R.S. Dalal said as per reports received from the Karnal district police, 100 to150 persons today blocked National Highway 1, the busiest highway in the country. The Karnal district police repeatedly made requests to clear the highway, as there were very long queues of stranded vehicles on both sides of the highway. He said repeated requests had no effect on them. Instead, the unruly crowd started pelting stones on the police. Therefore, as a last resort, the district police had to resort to a mild lathicharge to clear the national highway.
