MUMBAI, 17 August 2007 — Shiv Sena activists, protesting Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Company’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the Commercial Business District (CBD) at Belapur in Navi Mumbai, went berserk yesterday afternoon as the rally turned violent.
The activists damaged more than 100 vehicles, including buses, and blocked traffic between Kharghar and Panel on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway to leave thousands of commuters stranded for hours. The traffic jam on the expressway extended up to five kilometers on both sides.
The activists were protesting against the SEZ in which agricultural lands of local farmers were being acquired by the government. The Sena activists also damaged some shops and went on a looting spree, a police official said.
The police first asked the Sena activists to disperse peacefully. But the activists indulged in stone pelting on the police, in which some policemen were injured. This led to the police first resorting to a cane charge and later, when the situation got out of control, tear gas shells were fired to quell the violence and reopen the expressway.
Sena activists also vented their anger against mediapersons, who were filming the scene, and tried to snatch their cameras. The situation this evening was reported to be under control. No arrests were made.
In another development, Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil announced that the state government would request the Bombay High Court to set up two special courts that would act as fast track courts and handle a maximum of 10 cases. “The police have been instructed to locate witnesses in the 1992-93 communal riot case and to provide protection to them.”
Patil further said that the police would protect the witnesses as the government expects a free and fair trial and that 20 cases of serious implications, such as multiple murders and rioting will be referred to the courts based on the Mumbai police commissioner’s report, he said. Patil added that of the 321 cases recorded by the Srikrishna Commission, the cases with the maximum amount of damage to property and life will be transferred to the fast track courts.
Meanwhile, Ravikant Patil, a three time independent legislator from neighboring Karnataka State was seriously injured and admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of civil hospital in Solapur district with multiple injuries after being allegedly beaten by Solapur police commissioner Ashok Kamte yesterday morning.
According to Kamte, Ravikant Patil sustained injuries during a scuffle with policemen when they questioned him for violating Supreme Court order banning bursting of crackers during late night. The city police commissioner who resides next to Patil’s house had asked the legislator and his supporters to stop bursting the crackers on the occasion of Patil’s birthday. When Kamte protested at the direct flouting of the police orders, a scuffle broke out between the police and the supporters in which the legislator was injured.
The police then forcibly removed Ravikant Patil from the troubled spot and rushed him to the hospital. The injured legislator’s brother Ratikant, who is also a Shiv Sena legislator from Solapur district alleged that Kamte had beaten up all the members of the Patil family, including his mother, and further alleged that the police commissioner had also threatened to gun them down.
Ratikant said that he has spoken about the incident and behavior of the Solapur police commissioner with the state director general of police P.S. Pasricha and has also submitted a memorandum to state Gov. S.M. Krishna and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh demanding stern action against Kamte.
