Phagwara clash: Injured in April 13 clash, 19-year-old succumbs to bullet injury

16 days after he sustained a bullet injury to the head in the April 13 Phagwara clash, Yaswant Bobby (19) succumbed to his injuries in a Ludhiana hospital at 2:30am on Sunday.

Bobby had been undergoing treatment at DMC Hospital, Ludhiana, after he sustained a bullet injury during the clash between members of a Dalit outfit and Hindu “upper caste” right-wing groups when members of the former allegedly installed a board carrying a picture of Ambedkar and the “new name” at the chowk on National Highway-1. Five persons were injured and Bobby had been undergoing treatment in Ludhiana since April 13.

“Doctors declared Bobby dead at 2:30am on Sunday morning,” a senior police official said.

Phagwara youth Yashwant Bobby, who had received bullet injury during clashes on April 13 over renaming of chowk declared dead. @HTPunjab @navneetsharma_

— Parampreet S Narula (@paramnarula) April 29, 2018

A day after the clash, around 100 people, including 33 by name, were booked under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 295A (hurting religious sentiments), 392 (robbery), 353 (assault), 186, 427, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Arms Act and the National Highways Act.

In the FIR, besides Hindu right-wing leaders, police have also included some Dalits including Lok Insaaf party leader Jarnail Nangal and Ambedkar Sena (Mool Niwasi) president Harbhajan Suman, blaming them for the clash.

Four people including Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) senior state vice-president Inderjit Karwal, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Suraksha Samiti state president Deepak Bhardwaj, Shiv Sena leader Shivi Batta and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader Rajiv Chahal were arrested in the case on April 14.

Jaswant Bobby’s cremation took place in Phagwara on Sunday. (Pardeep Pandit/HT )

Internet services blocked

At 11pm on Saturday, internet services were blocked for a period of 24 hours in the following districts of Punjab -- Jalandhar, Kapurthala, SBS Nagar and Hoshiarpur in Doaba and Ludhiana in Malwa region.

Also, entry of vehicles into Phagwara has been suspended. Local administration has diverted the traffic to avoid entry of buses from National Highway-1 into Phagwara. DC Mohammad Tayyab said that no curfew had been declared but there was heavy deployment of security forces across the town.