Nagpur: The city police have registered eight first information reports (FIR) and five non-cognizable offences against Dalit protesters who had engaged in arson and violence during their nationwide bandh on Monday. They were protesting the alleged dilution of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes (Prevention of Atrocity) Act.
Named in the FIRs are several leaders of different Dalit organizations and some political parties. Fearing a flare-up, the cops have made no arrests.
The police, who preferred to err on the side of caution, had another anxious day on Tuesday when a Dalit outfit organized a ‘ghantanad’ agitation at Samvidhan Chowk (RBI chowk) demanding the arrest of Bhide Guruji who was one of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon incident. The organization wrapped up their protest peacefully by handing over a memorandum to district collector Sachin Kurve.
A senior police official, on the condition of anonymity, said the police would not risk arresting any Dalit agitators at this point as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary is round the corner (April 14).
Four offences were registered at Jaripatka police station for stone pelting and setting two buses on fire. One incident of stone pelting on a private travel bus was registered at New Kamptee police station. Offences were also registered at Sadar, Pachpaoli and Sitabuldi police stations for arson and blocking traffic.
City police, which had focused their bandobast at Samvidhan Chowk and Indora Chowk, were left clueless when the agitators resorted to violence at both these points. The violence at Indora Chowk was surprising despite strong police deployment as cops resorted to wait-and-watch policy.
