Rajkot: Woman cop booked for manhandling Cong corporators at RMC meeting

‘A’ Division police inspector NK Jadeja said, “We have registered a non-cognisable offence and we are in the process of registering statements of witnesses. However, we are yet to identify the accused.”

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DAYS AFTER a woman constable allegedly manhandled women corporators of Congress and “prevented them from raising questions in interest of the public” at a meeting of general board of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), the policewomen was booked on Saturday under the Indian Penal Code sections 323 and 504. Police on Sunday said that though the constable is yet to be identified, they are inquiring into the matter.

The corporators alleged that when they raised voice and displayed placards to protest against the “poor condition of city roads and the proposed merger of four villages into RMC” at the meeting on Wednesday, the constable entered the meeting hall and snatched away posters and papers from Congress corporator Rasila Garaiya, manhandled her and abused her. She had also allegedly manhandled a few other women corporators on the Opposition benches.

A day after the incident, a delegation, led by leader of Opposition in RMC, Vashram Sagathiya, went to ‘A’ Division police station and sought an explanation if RMC had requested police deployment inside the meeting hall. He also threatened to file a complaint against the police for entering the hall without authorisation and thus violating provisions of the Gujarat Provincial Municipalities Act.

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After the delegation did not get a “satisfactory answer”, Congress corporators resorted to sloganeering outside the police station and sat on an indefinite strike. On Friday, the Congress corporators met Rajkot mayor Bina Acharya regarding the same. They also sought to know from the mayor, who was presiding officer at the meeting, as to why police were called inside the meeting hall and that the presiding officer should offer a written apology for the insulting behaviour meted out to the Congress corporators. The corporators also threatened to launch an agitation, if the mayor did not act on their grievance.

Hours later, ‘A’ Division police on Friday accepted a complaint from Garaiya. Based on that complaint, the police on Saturday booked an unidentified woman constable under IPC Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).

On Sunday, ‘A’ Division police inspector NK Jadeja said they were inquiring into the matter. “We have registered a non-cognisable offence and we are in the process of registering statements of witnesses. However, we are yet to identify the accused,” Jadeja said.

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