Crowd torches Mahananda Express in Hathras

A 3,000-strong mob fought a pitched battle with police for over six hours leaving about 30 policemen injured. Teargas shells and rubber bullets fired by police to bring the situation under control did not yield any results as protesters had taken shelter on the over-bridge and hurled stones and bricks on security forces.

Railway traffic on the Aligarh route remained paralysed for most part of the day and was restored only after 6 pm.

ADG (Law & Order) A K Jain,who reached the spot in the afternoon,admitted that police had failed to assess the intensity of the situation. According to the police,a group of people were staging a sit-in protest outside the railway station since September 23 and were demanding stops of long-distance trains. In a memorandum handed over to the railway authorities,the district administration and the police,they had warned to intensify the agitation by stopping the trains on September 30 if their demand was not met.

As a precautionary measure,the police arrested the group’s leader Mahendra Dikshit and 14 others on Wednesday morning. Later in the day,Hathras SP withdrew the additional force that was deployed at station. Soon after that rioters went on a rampage and started pelting stones on policemen. They also hurled stones on Mahananda Express,which was stopped at the station following the agitation.

CO (City) Ashok Kumar,SHO of the Hathras police station and 10 other policemen were injured in the attack. A sub-inspector who was present at the spot said the police reinforcement reached the spot an hour after the CO asked for additional forces.

A team of senior officials,including Aligarh Commissioner,DIG and SP of Agra GRP reached Hathras later in the noon.

Jain said that over two dozen rioters had been arrested and raids were still on to arrest others.