Denied entry, slapped, taken to police station

CHANDIGARH: People from Ambala were practising yoga for the International Day of Yoga event for over a month, but when they reached the city this morning to be part of the historic event, they were not only denied entry to the venue but were slapped, pushed and even taken to the police station.

Left out, people from Ambala hold a protest on a road leading to the Capitol Complex. A Tribune photograph

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 21

People from Ambala were practising yoga for the International Day of Yoga event for over a month, but when they reached the city this morning to be part of the historic event, they were not only denied entry to the venue but were slapped, pushed and even taken to the police station.

It all happened with a group of 60 people, including women, from Ambala. The group had reached the Capitol Complex in buses. They were not allowed to enter the venue as they were not having identity cards.

Jai Kishan Sharma, one of the group leaders, said the names of all of them were there in the list and they were told that the identity cards would be given to them at the venue.

Denied entry, they staged a protest there and blocked the main road leading to the Capitol Complex. Within minutes, the police removed them from the road. Mounted policemen also reached the spot to control the situation.

The police pushed 14 of the protesters, including a woman, inside a bus. While they were opposing the police action, a policeman allegedly slapped a participant and pushed him inside the bus. Other protesters were also manhandled and pushed inside the bus and taken to the Sector 3 police station.

Kush Aggarwal, one of the protesters, said the police pushed them inside the bus and a senior member of the group was slapped. The police released all 14 protesters after two hours, he said.

Kurukshetra group denied entry too

A group from Kurukshetra was also denied entry to the venue. Members of the group alleged that despite their names in the list and despite having participated in rehearsals, they were denied entry to the Capitol Complex. They said they were putting up at Kisan Bhawan, Sector 14, Panchkula. When they reached the venue in the morning, the security staff did not allow them to enter.

Amrik Singh and Ram Kumar of the group said around 60 people from Kurukshetra had reached the venue, but were not allowed to participate in the yoga event led by PM Narendra Modi. All of them had attended a one-month camp, but to no avail, they said.