Bajrang Dal members lathi-charged in Indore, DCP transferred soon after

On Thursday evening, several members from the outfit sat on protest at Palasiya police station area demanding the withdrawal of an FIR registered against their members, claiming they had been trapped in “a false case foisted on them by members of the drug trade”.

The local police asked them to leave the area, but the members of the outfit were adamant on meeting the Indore police commissioner and handing him a memorandum.

“We tried to reason with them but they did a chakka jam, which created law and order problems. They did not make any written demands from us. We tried to explain to them that they should not block traffic. Then, stone pelting began in the area, so force was used. Some of our own policemen were also injured,” said a senior police officer.

Indore Police Commissioner Makrand Deoskar said an FIR was registered against unknown persons under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the IPC at Palasiya Police station.

“A total of four police officers and 11 Bajrang Dal members have been injured,” Deoskar said.

Mishra said he has deputed an ADG-rank officer to investigate the matter. “Taking cognizance of what the police have done, we have deputed an ADG-rank officer from Bhopal to visit the spot and investigate the matter. The thana in-charge has been line attached,” Mishra said.

Bajrang Dal members meanwhile warned that all police officers involved in the incident be suspended or they will take out state-wide marches against the government.

Tannu Sharma, who headed the Bajrang Dal anti-drug rallies, told The Indian Express, “I was part of the protest. It was peaceful and they beat us like animals. This government is ours and our ideology matches, but they have stayed away and we will put them in place if all officers are not suspended and cases against our workers scrapped.”

The Congress meanwhile attacked the state government, calling its action against the drug trade an eyewash.

Party spokesperson K K Mishra said, “The BJP government called Bajrang Dal nationalists when we tried to ban them in Karnataka. How did they become gundas overnight? The Bajrang Dal was protesting against the drug trade. For 18 years, who has been in power? Who is distributing drugs?”

An analysis of the total number of opium act cases registered in 57 police stations in the state shows that Indore tops the list with 512 cases registered till April this year out of the total 1,220 cases registered in the state.