Badlapur rail roko agitation's mysterious origin: From school protest to railway disruption

MUMBAI: The origin of Tuesday's agitation in over the of two minor schoolgirls remains shrouded in mystery. The police are baffled how a parents' dharna outside the school metamorphosed into a public protest involving at least 5,000 people sitting on the railway tracks. Railway property was also vandalised.

The school protesters say their intention was only to gather outside the institute during the bandh called in the city. They did not understand when the plan to halt local trains was made. In an impromptu move, people started talking about stopping trains to have their voices heard by the central govt. After this, the crowds swelled upon the tracks as the school agitators joined the sit-in.

A high-ranking police official said the unhelpful attitude of school authorities and the police station, where the parents were made to wait for 11 hours before an FIR was registered, had fuelled the outrage. Eventually, following the intervention of the zonal DCP, the accused was arrested. The school principal, a teacher and a female attendant were also sacked and a woman inspector, Shubhada Shitole, transferred out for stalling the FIR.

By then a women's organisation had announced a protest outside the school. Some local activists and unions also called for a bandh.

Sangeeta Chienvenkar, who was part of the group at the school and is booked in the case, said: "We planned to hold a peaceful bandh and agitate outside the school since they were negligent in handling the case. On Aug 20, at 6.30 am, as per the plan, parents as well as other citizens gathered outside the gate demanding that the authorities explain what action they had taken, but till 9.30 am when they did not even reply, people got angry, entered inside and vandalised the nursery section where the crime occurred."

Another agitator who had heard about the dharna at the school, said: "I have a small daughter too, so I decided to join the sit-in outside the school. There the group said the next protest is at Badlapur railway station to have our voices heard by the central govt, after which I participated in the rail roko but avoided going on the railway track."

It appears that apart from the parents who went to Badlapur station, more than 3,000 persons gathered in response to messages on social media and news alerts on television channels. In a few hours, the number swelled to 5,000.

Another youth said two college friends were on the tracks but he was watching from the platform. "After watching the news on television, they called me to join. I feel the rail roko should have lasted an hour at most until our voice reached the authorities," he said.

Railway police commissioner Ravindra Shiswe and Thane police commissioner Ashutosh Dumbre had arrived to pacify the crowd, but the demand was that the accused be hanged in public.

The officers cited the legal position and their inability to accept such a demand. Suddenly, the mob started pelting stones on security personnel, following which police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.

"We understood their mentality. Even though they were violent, we dealt with them very carefully. Without using much force, we ensured that they dispersed as early as possible," an IPS official said.

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