Police fire at dalits in Than town, 3 killed

Three dalits were killed in police firing in Than town of Surendranagar district, in violence that began on Saturday and resumed on Sunday. Sources said that the police opened fired at protestors who were seeking registration of a case against some Bharwad youths who had allegedly thrashed a dalit.

The trouble between dalits and members of the Bharwad community began on Friday at a local fair organised by the Than municipality. Sources said that some local Bharwad youngsters got into a scuffle with some dalits at the fair. One Pravin Hamirbhai was injured in the incident, said sources. 

Following the scuffle, some dalits went to Than police station and asked the police to register their complaint against some local Bharwad youths, including Viral, Gopal, Mahesh and Haresh. The Bharwad youths had allegedly attacked Pravin. The police, however, told the angry dalits that as it was a ‘medico-legal’ case they should come later.

The dalits went back to the police station on Saturday and demanded that the police register their complaint and take action against the Bharwad youths. The police again asked them to come later. 

This angered the nearly 1,000 dalits who had gathered outside the police station by then. Some of them began to throw stones at the police station which forced the police personnel to fire tear gas at the crowd. 

But the angry dalits refused to budge. Then the police fired in the air to disperse the mob but even this did not have the desired effect. Finally, the policemen fired into the protestors killing a dalit youth, 17-year-old Pankaj Sumda, said the sources. 

The angry dalits returned on Sunday afternoon and around 2,000 people took out a rally and marched towards the police station. According to sources, the demonstrators were demanding action against the policemen who had fired at them and wanted a murder case to be registered against them.

The mob was stopped by personnel of the State Reserve Police (SRP) near the railway crossing in the area. On seeing them, the dalits went on a rampage and began throwing stones at the policemen and their vehicles.

According to sources, the police again fired teargas and then live ammunition in the air but this failed to disperse the mob. The policemen then opened fire at the protestors, killing two more dalits.

The two dalits killed on Sunday have been identified as Prakash Parmar (26) and Mehul Rathod (18). One Chana Vaniya, who was injured in the firing, has been taken to Rajkot civil hospital where his condition is said to be critical.

The body of all the deceased have been sent to Rajkot civil hospital. Inspector General (Range IG) Pravin Sinha, and Superintendent of Police (SP) Surendranagar, Raghvendra Vatsa, have rushed to Than and are camping there. 

“The police had to open fire to disperse an angry mob of around 700 persons. We will conduct a fair enquiry into the incident and will take appropriate action,” said Sinha.