An angry mob protesting against the atrocities against women, especially the rising cases of rape and murder in the State, today blocked the Birsa Rajpath (Harmu Road) near Kishoreganj Chowk when Chief Minister Hemant Soren was coming back to his residence from State Secretariat.
The mob not only stopped the CM’s cavalcade, but also turned violent and started pelting stones on the vehicles. Sensing the danger, policemen present at the site and those in the CM’s security immediately changed the route of CM and took him out safely to his official residence.
Additional police forces immediately rushed to the site and controlled the situation using mild force. The protesters, after wreaking havoc on the road, finally, dispersed towards Ranchi Lake and other areas of the city. However, some policemen including an inspector rank officer of Ranchi Traffic police got injured in the incident.
The injured Traffic Inspector Naval Kishore Prasad was immediately shifted to Medica Superspecialty hospital for treatment. Senior police officers including Inspector General Akhilesh Jha, Senior SP, Ranchi Surendra Kumar Jha, Traffic SP, Ajit Peter Dungdung alongwith several others reached the spot immediately after the incident and took stock of the situation there.
The officers said that the accused persons were being identified and action will be taken against each one who was involved in the violent activities. In the incident the Road Opening Party (ROP) vehicle of CM’s cavalcade was damaged, they said.
Ranchi SSP SK Jha said, “Anti-social elements tried to create ruckus near Kishoreganj Chowk, but due to police’s alertness the situation was controlled quickly. An inspector was injured and was admitted to hospital. It was an event, planned very secretly. Police are conducting a probe professionally to book the culprits.”
Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress party termed the incident a well-planned one by right wing activists in the State. JMM General Secretary cum Spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said that it was not a normal incident as people were trying to take law and order in their hands. He said that it was a well thought about incident.
“Senior police officials are there to find out who all are responsible for the incident. People who are against the government are trying to create chaos in the society. Their conspiracy will soon be unveiled. Law will take its own course and those responsible will be booked,” he said.
State Congress leaders also condemned the incident and said that in democracy, everyone is allowed to protest, but in the guise of protest, the unruly elements cannot be allowed to spread unrest.
“Attacking the Chief Minister’s convoy is not a protest, but a crime, in which police officers have also been injured. The way a sudden attempt was made to attack the Chief Minister’s convoy under a well-planned conspiracy that if his security personnel do not take caution and divert the route and take them safely then there could have been a big accident today. Whatever kind of conspiracy or political conspiracy was behind this incident it should be disclosed immediately and the miscreants should not be spared at any cost,” said JPCC Spokesperson Alok Dubey.
Notably, the agitators were mainly protesting against a suspected rape and murder incident of a girl, whose naked body without head was found in Ormanjhi near the Capital city. Despite continuous hunt for the head of the girl police have not been able to recover the same till the time of filing of this report.