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.
#WATCH Madhya Pradesh: A protestor pulls hair of Rajgarh Deputy Collector Priya Verma, after she hits BJP workers and drags them. The clash broke out during a demonstration in support of #CAA. pic.twitter.com/7ckpZaFBkJ
— ANI (@ANI) January 19, 2020
"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.
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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.