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Police lathi-charge agitating workers near Mini Secretariat in Gurgaon on Monday.
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Gurgaon, July 25
A procession of workers of Honda Scooters and Motorcycle Ltd, based at Manesar, near here, today went berserk setting on fire the Gypsy of the Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) and critically injuring the DSP, (Headquarters), near the ITI chowk. They also set on fire a police outrider and pelted stones, injuring about 20 police personnel and the SDM.
After giving the processionists a long rope for about four hours, the police counter-attacked them on the lawns of the Mini-Secretariat, injuring hundreds of them. The processionists were about 3,000 in number. The exact number of workers injured could not be ascertained, but few were the lucky ones who were not cane-charged while they were staging a sit-in at the Mini-Secretariat.
The Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon, Mr Sudhir Rajpal, said the injured DSP, (Headquarters), Mr Jag Parvez Dahiya, who was admitted in Kalyani Hospital, was in a critical condition. The SDM, Mr Jai Singh Sagwan, whose jeep was burnt, also received injuries.
According to Mr Rajpal, 65 workers were injured, 15 of them seriously.
The day started with the workers of Honda Scooters assembling at Kamla Nehru Park from where they started their procession. When the procession reached the ITI crossing, the SDM of Gurgaon along with the DSP had a word with the agitationists.
At this, workers went berserk and set the SDM’s jeep on fire. Simultaneously, they pelted stones on about 50 police personnel at the site. The police fired gun shots in air to put them on the backfoot, but to no avail. The mob then targeted the police out rider and set it on fire.
Then they trained their ire on the DSP, dragging him to the ground. While some used lathis on him, others pelted stones.
According to eyewitnesses, it was a providential escape for the DSP with police personnel bodily whisking him away from the site. He has received injuries on his head.
It was a copybook defensive posture of the motley police personnel in the face of about 3,000 workers on the rampage. They literally chased and shooed the
personnel who were not even armed properly, perhaps not expecting such a violence from the workers. The personnel were running for cover with the workers in a no holds-barred mood, pelting stones at them.
The workers then did the rounds of the city in a procession for about four hours, virtually holding the public at ransom on the route. There was general panic after the news of the incident spread in the city. The shopkeepers downed their shutters and commuters changed directions wherever the
procession went.
However, the workers alleged that the SDM and the DSP provoked them as they tried to disrupt the
procession.
As if to instill confidence in the police force, the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon, Mr Sudhir Rajpal, and the2 district police chief, Mr Yogender Nehra, marched with the constabulary in riot gear after the processionists in the wake of the violence. In the meantime, the police got its reinforcement with personnel from the Haryana Reserved Police Force, fleets of the fire brigade, personnel from the Rapid Action Force and personnel from various police stations who were enlisted for the operation.
It appears that as part of a strategy, the police and the administration allowed them to assemble at the Mini-Secretariat. It was here that a heavy posse of police personnel swooped on them, cane-charging them at will. The workers alleged that they were asked by the administration to assemble at the Mini-Secretariat for talks with it.
The Deputy Commissioner said that the agitationists were planning to burn a showroom of Honda Scooters on the highway. He further said that the workers were not acceptable to amicable solution to the impasse between them and the Honda Scooters management.
Meanwhile, the AITUC chief and Left party MP, Mr Gurudass Dasgupta, who arrived here after the police assault to show solidarity with the workers, alleged that he was manhandled by a DSP and the DC when he tried to ascertain the facts. He said that he would the raise the issue in Parliament and demanded action against the DSP who
allegedly misbehaved with him.
