Angered by the desecration of B R Ambedkar's
statue in Kanpur, Dalits in several parts of
Maharashtra went on a rampage on Thursday, setting
three trains on fire, damaging over 100 buses
and clashing with police in
violent protests that left four persons dead
and over 60 injured.
As the state witnessed protests for the second
day, authories imposed curfew in Nanded town
of Marathwada region, Pimpri in Pune district
and Nandurbar town in north Maharashtra following
incidents of violence there.
Two persons died in police firing on Thursday
at Osmanabad in Marathwada, while one each died
in Nanded and Nashik during protests on Wednesday
night.
Five compartments of the Mumbai-Pune Deccan
Queen train were torched by a mob of over 6,000
people at Ulhasnagar in Thane district, 56 km
from Mumbai.
Some compartments of a commuter train were also
torched at Ulhasnagar, where police fired in
the air to control violent crowds.
"The protestors first asked passengers
to alight from the Deccan Queen and then set
it afire," Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil
told reporters.
Asked if the protests were also a fall out of
the killing of four members of a Dalit family
at at Khairlanji on September 29, Patil declined
to comment.
"Till we have proof, we cannot say that
the violence, including today's train burning
incident, was pre-planned," he said.
Patil said the police are taking all precautionary
steps to maintain law and order in Mumbai on
December 6, when lakhs of Ambedkar's followers
are expected to gather in Mumbai for the leader's
death anniversary.
The protests erupted after a statue of Ambedkar
at Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh was allegedly vandalised
on Wednesday.
Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy hinted to
reporters that the protests could be a fall
out of the Khairlanji killings and said the
police had asked the government to declare December
6 a local public holiday.
A total of 176 people were arrested in Mumbai
on Thursday and at least 13 policemen, including
Additional Commissioner of Police K L Bisnoi,
were injured in the protests.
Over 100 buses and 35 private vehicles were
damaged in stone pelting and Roy pegged the
loss to property in the region of Rs 30 lakh.
Suburban train services were affected in parts
of Mumbai as protestors squatted on the tracks.
Shops and establishments in the city were also
closed in view of the protests.
A spokesman of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply
and Transport said 91 of its buses were damaged
and four drivers and a woman passenger injured
in stone pelting.
Mumbai's eastern suburb of Bhandup witnessed
the maximum violence and police used batons
and teargas to disperse crowds there.
Protests were also witnessed in suburbs like
Kherwadi, Trombay, Kurla, Mulund and Kalina,
police said.
Municipal transport and autorickshaws went off
the roads in Thane and Navi Mumbai following
incidents of stone pelting.
The mob in Ulhasnagar also vandalised a railway
station and assaulted a railway employee, and
State Police Chief P S Pasricha said the police
were in touch with the railway administration
in Delhi to strengthen security to prevent such
incidents.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh
has cut short his three-day official visit to
Singapore and will return to Mumbai on Friday.
One compartment of a train was set on fire at
Matunga Yard in Mumbai, but no injuries have
been reported.
Some people tried to block Eastern and Western
Express Highways, but due to the timely intervention
of police, the traffic was restored after a
few minutes.
Train services between Kalyan and Ambernath
stations on the Central Railway line were affected
and shuttle services are being run between Ambernath
and Karjat, the spokesperson said adding, there
were rail rokos at Bhandup and Airoli stations
in the morning that affected suburban train
services briefly.
Small groups of 15-20 people continued to protest
against the incident in Dalit-dominated pockets
in the north and north-east parts of Mumbai,
police said adding, incidents of stone pelting
were reported from Trombay, Chembur, Kurla,
Bhandup, Mulund and Navghar in north-east Mumbai.
Stone-pelting incidents also occurred at Kherwadi,
Kurar, Pali Hill in Bandra and Goregaon in north-west
Mumbai.
There were also reports of protests in Kherwadi
in Bandra east, where around 15 to 20 agitators
pelted stones on passing vehicles on the arterial
Western Express highway. The situation has been
brought under control now.
In Thane, corporation-run buses are off the
road due to stone pelting. A Municipal Transport
Corporation bus going from Kalyan to Dombivili
was set on fire at Manpada by a violent mob.
Autorickshaws were also not plying in the city.
Protestors have forced owners of shops and establishments
to down shutters and only emergency services
are operating.
According to police, over a dozen offences have
been registered at various police stations in
connection with the violent protests in Thane
district and an unspecified number of persons
have been arrested.
In Nashik district, Dalit activists tried to
set afire a Maharashtra State Road Transport
Corporation bus in Ambad area on Thursday, police
said. Protesters had damaged 100 vehicles and
set on fire a MSRTC bus at Sinnar-Phata in the
district on Wednesday. MSRTC suspended its bus
services to all routes in Nashik, affecting
commuters, MSRTC officials said.
Stone-pelting was also reported in Bhim Nagar
locality in Nashik Road area, where commercial
establishments and banks remained closed. The
functioning of educational institutions too
were adversely affected here, police said.
Three persons were arrested for allegedly lynching
Dalit youth Rangnath Shankar Dhale, 23, on Wednesday
night on Jail Road, police said. Dhale's body
was brought to the Nashik civil hospital for
autopsy and will be cremated later in the day
at Nashik Road.
Meanwhile, the state government has announced
a financial aid of Rs 1 lakh and government
job to the next of kin of the slain Dalit youth.
Maharashtra Public Works Department Minister
Chhagan Bhujbal, who toured trouble-torn localities
of Nashik Road and Vihitgaon on Thursday, visited
Dhale's house at Muktidham and announced the
financial assistance and job. He also assured
free treatment to Dhale's ailing father.
In Nanded town of Marathwada region, authorities
imposed curfew from 5 am on Thursday as a 'precautionary'
measure in view of Thursday's protests. The
curfew will continue till 7 pm, Nanded Superintendent
of Police Fatehsinh Patil told PTI over phone.
So far, eight people have been injured in incidents
of stone-pelting over the statue desecration,
he said.
Curfew has been enforced for 24 hours in 12
localities of Pune's Pimpri-Chinchwad from 6:30
am on Thursday, Police Commissioner D N Jadhav
told reporters.
He said the situation had been brought under
control for sometime on Wednesday. But the agitation
spread from one area to another, leading to
violence at 44 places in Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad
areas resulting to injuries to 13 policemen.
Jadhav said 60 vehicles were damaged and set
ablaze by agitators since the stir began in
Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The police commissioner said agitators blocked
roads at a number of places in Pimpri-Chinchwad
and in Pune station vicinity.
The agitators threw burning tyres on the railway
tracks at Khirkee when the Deccan Queen Express
was going to Mumbai from Pune.
The road block agitation affected train services
and vehicular raffic between Pune-Mumbai in
the morning.
Jadhav said a senior police officer will be
holding meeting with Dalit leaders with a view
to finding a solution to the ongoing agitation.
In Aurangabad, police fired one round in the
air on Wednesday night to disperse a crowd of
1,000 Dalit protestors demonstrating at Mukundwadi
area of the city. According to police, the protestors
gathered on Jalna Road in Mukundwadi at around
9 pm and subsequently some of them began pelting
stones at passing vehicles.
A police team, which reached the spot by around
10 pm, failed to pacify the protesters, who
then turned their ire on the police. In the
ensuing melee, six persons, including sub-inspector
and a constable, were injured, prompting the
police to fire in the air. The injured were
admitted to a city hospital.
Over 1,500 protestors have been arrested across
the state for various incidents of stone-pelting
and arson. Of them, 400 were caught indulging
in violent acts.
In Surat, a mob pelted stones and damaged vehicles
in Pandesara locality, police said.
"A mob of about 50-odd people took out
a rally in the area to protest the statue desecration,"
Surat Police Commissioner Sudhir Sinha told
PTI.
"Members of this group became violent and
pelted stones and damaged a bus and another
vehicle at Prem Nagar and Dakshineshwar Temple
area," he added.
"Eight persons were arrested in connection
with the violence," Sinha said adding,
security has been reinforced in the affected
areas.
In Hubli, Karnataka, activists belonging to
various Dalit organisations stoned a dozen city
buses, police said.
The protesters took out a procession from Kittur
Rani Chennamma circle to the Ambedkar statue
opposite Hubli Head Post Office and later held
a meeting in which it was decided that a state-wide
bandh call would be given after consulting other
Dalit organisations in the state.
Normal life was affected for some time as buses
stopped plying for about two hours. The services,
however, resumed later.
The situation is under control now, police said.
"The emerging law and order situation in
the state warrants my presence there,"
Maharashtra chief minister told PTI from Singapore.
Deshmukh, who was on an official tour of Singapore
to scout for investments, said he had concluded
meetings with potential investors on Thursday.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi also spoke to
Deshmukh on the situation in Maharashtra.
"I can understand their (Dalits') feelings
because Babasaheb Ambedkar's statue has been
damaged in Kanpur, but the time has come that
they strengthen themselves and cooperate with
the state government," Deshmukh said.
He asked Dalit leaders to come out and appeal
to the people to restore normalcy.
With UNI inputs
