New Delhi: The Bihar Police has suspended the constable who fired an AK-47 rifle at protesters in Siwan. The students were protesting against the NEET paper leak on 25 July and demanding Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
Three students were injured in the shooting. One of the students, Bullet Kumar Gond, who suffered a bullet injury, said that he had come to Siwan from his village to get a certificate and was going to the District Magistrate’s office when he was hit in the leg by a bullet.
The other two students injured in the firing have been identified as Akash and Arif. One of them was injured in the shoulder while the other suffered an injury between his shoulder and neck.
The three have been admitted to Medanta Hospital where Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav met them.
“One boy had come to get his caste certificate. Another 15-year-old boy was closing a shop. The other one was Akash Yadav, whose marriage had been fixed in Rae Bareli. He had come to a bakery to get a cake. You fired AK-47s at innocent people. Another boy was preparing to join the Army. The police shot him in the leg,” Tejashwi told reporters.
“Even after hitting him with the bullet, the police kept beating him with Laathis. They took him to the station on one leg, and even when he asked for water they did not give him any,” he added.
Students clash with police
The protest had turned violent during the ‘Bihar Bandh’ protests in Siwan last week, with demonstrators clashing with the police. Reports also suggested incidents of stone-pelting during the protests. The police fired tear-gas shells and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd.
The Siwan Superintendent of Police on Monday said that the cop who used an AK-47 rifle against protesters had been suspended.
“The constable, posted with the District Intelligence Unit (DIU), has been suspended with immediate effect after a video purportedly showing him using an AK-47 rifle during a student protest went viral on social media. Departmental proceedings have also been initiated against him,” he told PTI.
The police informed that the protesters damaged 19 government vehicles and one private vehicle, adding that 58 police personnel, including SP Puran Kumar Jha, were injured in the clashes between the police and protesters. A total of 423 people were taken into custody over the violence.
According to local authorities, the protesters gathered at many locations across Siwan, including Gandhi Maidan, JP Chowk, Sadar Hospital Mor, Kagazi Mohalla, Gopalganj Mor, and the Siwan Kachahri railway crossing.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)