Congress members on Wednesday sought an adjournment motion in the Chhattisgarh Assembly over alleged cane-charge on them and workers including women workers during party’s gherao of State Assembly on March 16 and demanded for a high-level probe into the incident.
The Speaker did not find the issue admissible after debate in the House and rejected it following which Congress members staged a walkout. Immediately after the question hour, Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal permitted discussion on the admissibility of the adjournment motion for which notice was given by 32 Congress members.
In the clarification, Home Minister Ramsewak Paikra refuted the charges of cane-charge by police. The protestors had reached Semaria near the Chhattisgarh Assembly from all directions. The area around the Chhattisgarh Assembly is declared a prohibited area under Section 144 of CrPC according to which procession, dharna, public meetings, demonstration etc are banned. In view of this, police had made arrangements on all routes leading to the State Assembly.
He said that the protestors had reached the barricades and at about 1.30 pm, about 1000 workers led by senior leaders and MlAs marched towards the Assembly from Semaria. They were warned by the officer but they tried to cross the barricades and scuffled with the police force. When police tried to stop them, they pelted stone over police force and tried to break the second barricade near Gyan Ganga School.
Paikra further said that police used minimum force to prevent the protestors from reaching Assembly. As many as 10 policemen sustained injuries in the stone pelting and scuffle with the protestors. As many as 904 protestors including 17 MlAs were arrested from the spot under Section 151 of CrPC and released later.
Opening the discussion, Congress member Bhupesh Baghel alleged that police had made elaborate arrangements and turned the Assembly building into a fortress with a number of barricades installed on all sides around it. Heavy police force was deployed and routes were diverted causing inconvenience to general public.
Despite all these arrangements, the Congress workers reached the third gate. The workers were attacked by the police who pelted stones and resorted to cane- charge. The cops even set afire the dry grass to check the protestors. They did not spare women workers and male cops manhandled the female workers, alleged Baghel.
The protestors were treated as terrorists. The police action was pre-planned and special instructions were given to cops in a meeting held at PHQ, alleged Baghel demanding for a high-level committee to probe into the incident. Congress member Dhanendra Sahu, Satyanarayan Sharma, Amarjeet Bhagat, Rajendra Kumar Rai, and Kawasi lakma also condemned the police action and demanded investigation.
Congress member Renu Jogi condemned the attack on women workers and requested that it should be ensured that such acts are not repeated in future. leader of Opposition TS Singhdeo also demanded for high-level probe into the incident. After listening to the arguments of both the sides, Speaker rejected the notice. Congress members demanded for investigation and staged a walkout.