Gujjars protest: Five killed in police firing

Bharatpur, May 23 : Five persons were killed today in firing when Gujjars, demanding Scheduled Tribe status in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district, clashed with police.

Police opened fire after agitated protestors clashed with them and torched two police jeeps in Karwar area in Bayana block of the district neighbouring Jaipur, officials said. One policeman was killed in the violence.

The mob pelted stones and tried to damage the track between Dumariya and Karwar Railway Stations and did not disperse even after police lobbed teargas shells, Principal Home Secretary V S Singh said in Jaipur.

Friday's trouble comes a week ahead of the first anniversary of the police firing on Gujjar agitators in the state and subsequent violence that claimed 26 lives.

The clashes broke out as the protesters gathered on Friday morning at Dumariya in support of a 'Rail Roko' call given by the Rajasthan Gurjar Arakashan Sangarsh Samiti leader, Kirori Singh Bainsla.

The bodies of those killed have been taken to the Bayana Hospital, police sources said, adding that there were reports of tension in several villages in the Bayana block following the violence.

Bainsla, against whom district authorities in Karauli have issued an arrest warrant, has gone into hiding, they said. Arrest warrants have also been issued against five of his associates.

A group of Gujjar youths had also attempted to stop traffic by putting up blockades on the Jaipur-Bikaner Highway near Sikar, about 250 kms from here, police said, adding that the youths were dispersed and the blockades removed.

Official sources said the authorities have promulgated prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in Bharatpur, Dausa, Karauli and Sawaimadhopur Districts.

About 3,000 security personnel, including 400 of the RAF, have been deployed in the four districts dominated by the Gujjar community, the sources said.

ANI