Chhattisgarh anti-mining protest: Five held for assaulting woman cop and tearing off her clothes

Raigarh, Jan 3 (PTI) Five persons have been arrested for allegedly assaulting and ripping off the uniform of a woman police constable during an anti-mining protest in Libra village in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district, officials said on Saturday.

A demonstration by residents of 14 villages against a coal mining project turned violent in the Tamnar block on December 27, resulting in arson and stone pelting.

The arrested persons have been identified as Mangal Rathia, Chinesh Khamari, Premsingh Rathia, Kirti Shriwas, all residents of Amgaon village, and Vanmali Rathia, who is from Jharna village. Two others are absconding, a police officer said.

They were booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and section 67(A) of the Information Technology Act, he added.

A mob had surrounded a woman constable in a field and assaulted her.

A video surfaced on social media on Thursday showing the constable lying on the ground and begging for mercy even as two men rip her clothes off and question her presence at the protest site.

She was seen crying with folded hands and repeatedly requesting the mob to let her go. "Don't tear, bhai. I will not do anything. I did not hit anyone," she says.

One of the accused is seen pulling her torn uniform, while another films the assault and later threatens her with a sandal and yells at her.

A blurred video of the assault was shared on Facebook by the All India Mahila Congress on Friday.

"The video of a female police constable being assaulted while her clothes were torn in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, is extremely disturbing. If even female police officers are not safe, what hope is there for ordinary citizens?" the Congress stated on a Facebook post.

"It is clear that the double-engine BJP government has completely failed on the fronts of women's safety and law and order," it stated.

Chhattisgarh State Congress communication head Sushil Anand Shukla described the episode as horrifying and shameful.

"The government must introspect on why anger against the police and administration was growing among the masses," he said, claiming people were losing faith in the system.

Clashes broke out last week near Libra village, where villagers had been protesting since December 12 for the cancellation of a public hearing held for the proposed Gare Pelma Sector-I coal block allotted to Jindal Power Limited.

The protesters feared the potential loss of livelihood, displacement, and other difficulties due to mining in the area.

A mob allegedly set ablaze a police bus, a jeep, and an ambulance. Several government vehicles were also damaged.

Protesters also stormed the coal handling plant of Jindal Power near Libra village and torched a conveyor belt, two tractors and other vehicles, while vandalising office premises.

Several policemen, including two officials, were injured in stone pelting.

Villagers had claimed that the situation turned tense after police attempted to remove protesters from the demonstration site.

A group of women allegedly assaulted Station House Officer of Tamnar police station Kamla Pusam, causing her injuries.

A day after the violence, the Raigarh administration said it had initiated the cancellation process of the public hearing held for the project. PTI COR NSK