NATIONAL STUDENTS Union of India (NSUI) activists were lathi-charged by the police when they tried to burn the effigy of PWD Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya for his alleged comments against the Governor outside the gates of the RNT Marg premises of the university on Tuesday.
All top NSUI office-bearers, including State spokesman Jeetu Sharma, City president Abhinadan alias ‘Tantu’ Sharma, City spokesman Amit K Chaurasiya and activists Skaquil Raj, Deepak Wankhede, Vishwas Bhagat and Ashok Temle received a severe thrashing at the hands of the police.
Heavy police force from three police station areas deployed from Regal Square to Madhumilan Square snatched the effigy of the Minister from them and wielded the baton on them during the ensuing struggle.
The police then took them to Chhoti Gwaltoli police station where, according to the activists, they were severely beaten and verbally abused by the policemen.
Top Congress politicians including former minister Sajjan Singh Verma, City Congress president Pramod Tandon, former MLA Ramlal Yadav and Kripa Shankar Shukla descended on the police station as soon as news of the police action spread.
TI A K Khare, who was accosted by several Congress leaders, was at a loss to explain the incident and pacify the irate leaders.
{{/usCountry}}TI A K Khare, who was accosted by several Congress leaders, was at a loss to explain the incident and pacify the irate leaders.
{{/usCountry}}Senior police officials, including ASP Manoj Shrivastav, CSP Irwin Shah and others rushed to the ‘gheraoed’ police station to prevent the tense situation from assuming larger proportions.
The Congressmen accused the police/administration of becoming puppets playing to the strings of their Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) masters. They accused them of showing laxity while the effigy of the Prime Minister is burnt in their presence and reacting violently to the petty issue of burning the effigy of a minister in the State and beating unarmed student leaders.
Verma said, “A demand to suspend the guilty at the earliest has been made and if it is not met the Congress will be forced to take stern action and convert the City into a ‘chhawni’.