NEW DELHI, September 10: The All India Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Federation today carried out a dharna near the police headquarters at ITO demanding reservations in government jobs and the Delhi Police.The police had to resort to a lathi charge and tear gas shelling to disperse the crowd during which 20 people including six policemen and a press photographer were injured. It all began around 10:30 am today when four hundred odd people gathered at ITO and began to block the traffic. This led to a major traffic jam since ITO happens to be a busy intersection. A large number of policemen were soon rushed to the spot from various near-by police stations.
The agitated protestors raised slogans against the police. The situation went out of control when police proceeded to arrest the Federation's president, Ramraj. Even as the senior police officers requested the mob to disperse, the crowd kept swelling.
Some of the demonstrators carried lathis with which they began to attack the policemen. DCP (Central) Ajay Kashyap told Express Newsline, ``The mob beacme so violent that we had to resort to a lathi charge and teargas shelling. Twenty odd people including six policemen have been admitted to LNJP. ACP (Daryaganj) Ram Narain also sustained injuries during the demonstration''.
A case of rioting has been registered at the I.P. Estate police station and twenty-one people have been arrested. Some of the members of the organisation later walked into the I.P. Estate police station at around 1 pm to voice their demands. According to D.C. Kapil, president of the Delhi branch, not even a single SC/ST had been recruited by the police. The list announced by the police had 625 candidates, out of whom no a single one is either an SC or an ST, he claimed.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.