Residents of Chharanagar conducted a peaceful rally on Sunday in protest of the impromptu lathicharge by police officials on the residents on July 27. Around 1500 residents participated in the rally organised for law and order.

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The rally — called a besna for law and order — was organised to 'mourn the death of law and order by citing the injustice done by police officials on the morning of July 27. Protestors and residents demanded an investigation into the incident.

The residents say that the numerous family members, who were arrested and against whom FIR was filed, are still held in Sabarmati Central Jail in judicial custody, and that they be released. A demand was also put forth for the formation of an independent special investigation team (SIT) with parties of police officials and residents so that there is an unbiased investigation. Residents have also demanded that if it is found that the police had taken unlawful actions, they should be suspended.

In order to communicate these demands, and to register a formal protest against the police officials of the area, the protesters were also carrying flowers, which they then marched to the Kubernagar Police Station and handed to the police officials there.

They said they are not making excuses to save the anti-social elements, but only protesting the alleged lathicharge on the innocent residents of Chharanagr. "We are only demanding that the police should not carry out such violence on the people who are respectfully living in the area and trying to rise above the spoiled name of the community. This doesn't help anyone and they should not do it. Also, we made sure that this really was absolutely peaceful so that even the police can see that these are good people and they also beat up innocent residents(sic)," said Daxxin Chharra, a minorities activist, who was leading the rally.

The police officials on the other hand were not taking any chances, and CRPF teams of around 500 police officials were deployed for precautionary measures. Police said the investigation is underway, and that they are also analysing the CTV footages of the incident.

"We are examining all CCTV footages of the event that took place that night. We will find out exactly what had happened and who all were involved. Once we do that, we can move forward with the actions to be taken against culprits," said Ashok Kumar Yadav, Additional Commissioner of Police, Sector 2.