MP pro-CAA rally: BJP men get into scraps with women officials

Bhopal, Jan 19: District collector of Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh and her deputy on Sunday took on 'unruly' protesters who defied prohibitory orders to hold a rally in Biaora town supporting the new citizenship law, video clips of which have gone viral. The rally was organised by the BJP.

The video clips purportedly show collector Nidhi Nivedita slapping a man and additional collector Priya Verma taking on some men who were part of the crowd.

The rally was taken out despite prohibitory orders in place in Rajgarh since Saturday night, and repeated pleas to the saffron party to call it off fell on deaf ears, some officials said.

Additional Collector Verma told PTI on Sunday night that some men from the crowd misbehaved with herself and the collector. She denied that they resorted to high-handed behaviour, as alleged by the Opposition party.

"Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC are in place in the district. While we were doing our duty, a crowd came from the other side and misbehaved with us," she said.

Verma said a man pulled her hair from back while another kicked her in the waist.
"All that (she taking on some men) happened after it. Despite our requests to the protesters to sit down, they did not pay any heed," she claimed.

Verma denied that police resorted to cane charge to disperse the crowd. "We have lodged a complaint with the police against two men for misbehaved with us. One of them has been identified as Singh while another is yet to be identified, but we have his picture," she said.

However, the BJP hit out at the two bureaucrats and claimed 'Hitlerism' would not be tolerated in Madhya Pradesh. Reacting to the incident, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said it was the "black letter day" in democracy. "Collector madam, which law book you have read empowers you to beat up and drag citizens protesting peacefully," Chouhan said in a tweet.

He further tweeted that the Congress-led government should hear it clear and loud that "Hitlerism with people of MP would not be tolerated at any cost".

The Kamal Nath government has opposed the CAA passed by Parliament recently. CAA provides for granting citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who had migrated to India before December 31, 2014.