Angry college students in Gangtok protest against police lathicharge

Dichen Ongmu,  EOI, Gangtok, 15 Jul 2014: Students of Sikkim Government College today blocked NH 31A to protest against the lathicharge unleashed by SP Manoj Tiwari Monday evening. The public also joined in the demonstration and vandalised ADM Aishwariya Singh’s vehicle as she was requesting the students to lift the blockade.

DC (East) AK Singh was also manhandled by the angry crowd when he reached the spot to assure action proper would be taken against the lathicharge incident. However, the situation went out of control and a huge police force led by SP Tiwari had to be deployed assisted by SAP and IRB personnel.

After all attempts to pacify the angry demonstrators failed, Home Secretary SK Gupta, Human Resource Development Department secretary Thomas Chandi and additional director general of police SD Negi tried to persuade the demonstrators to lift their agitation. The home secretary said the state government has issued a notification stating an inquiry will be conducted in this respect and the SP Tiwari would be asked to apologise if found guilty.

But the students were not convinced and claimed Tiwari should apologise on the same spot where the lathicharge had taken place. They started hurling stones at the police personnel and also torched a government vehicle following which a round of tear gas was fired and Section 144 of the IPC was imposed at the Tadong area.

The crowd dispersed around 6pm but policemen have been deployed on patrolling duty. Sources said photo journalist Subhash Gurung’s camera was completely destroyed while another reporter was injured in the day’s incident.

Students from various state government colleges in Gangtok hit the streets Monday and protested outside the Human Resource and Development Department against the sudden increase in semester fees following which the SP resorted to lathicharge to check the aggressive students. However, sources from the administrative department have informed the fees have been rolled back to their original levels.

Meanwhile, speaking to this correspondent, SP Tiwari said, “It is not feasible to apologise in the middle of the road, but we can sit and talk inside the college premises to settle the matter mutually.”