SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad Aug 9: Dhanbad Sadar MLA Raj Sinha, outgoing Mayor Chandrashekhar Agrawal, and BJP Yuva Morcha state president Kislay Tiwary on Monday sat on a dharna at Randhir Verma Chowk in protest against lathi-charge on intermediate girl students at the collectorate and threatened to intensify agitation across the state if Dhanbad SDM is not removed immediately.
The ‘Mahadharna’ was organized by the BJP State Yuva Morcha. State president Kislay Tiwary said that the state government has no control over its police. The SDM used lathi on minor intermediate girl students against the police manual. “The BJP Yuva Morcha would intensify agitation across the state if the state government does not remove Dhanbad SDM Surendra Kumar,” he said.
Sadar MLA Raj Sinha condemned the incident and said that the BJP would not sit idle till justice is not done to intermediate students and the SDM as well as the police officers who lathi-charged students are not punished.
On August 6, the police allegedly lathicharged intermediate failed girl students at the collectorate when they had gone to meet health minister Banna Gupta over the JAC result. The health minister was holding 20- point programme meeting. Video clippings showed SDM Surendra Kumar was also beating students with a cane.
Out of the six students who were injured in the lathi charge, two are still under treatment at Nirmal Mahto Medical College Hospital (NMMCH).
The BJP Yuva Morcha staged ‘Mahadharna’ after a four-member delegation of the state BJP under CP Singh (former minister) on Sunday visited Dhanbad for probe of the lathi charge on girl students. Chandankyari MLA Amar Bouri, state general secretary Pradeep Verma and Aditya Sahu were other members of the delegation sent by state president Deepak Prakash. The delegation held police officers and the SDM responsible for the incident.
