Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 23: Normalcy was restored in Poonch town after stray incidents of violence in the morning in which five youths were injured and half a dozen vehicles were damaged in protest against teasing and thrashing of a woman by a three-wheeler operator of majority community in the town yesterday. The accused remained untraced so far.
Authorities had to impose prohibitory orders this morning and keep Army on alert to prevent the situation from flaring up as angry youths held protests, blocked roads and forces closure of educational institutions and Government offices demanding immediate arrest of the culprit, who stood identified as Mohammad Zameel of village Dalan in Poonch.
After morning trouble, Housing Minister Raman Bhalla, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Shantmanu and IGP Jammu, Rajesh Kumar flew to Poonch town at 2 pm today and held negotiations with all communities including representatives of District Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (DGPC), Dashmesh Youth Club and Bajrang Dal, which were spearheading protests against assault on the girl.
Bhalla accompanied by MLA Poonch Aijaz Jan and senior officers of civil and police administration including Shantmanu, Rajesh Kumar, Brigade Commander Poonch Brig SK Acharya, DIG Rajouri-Poonch AK Atri and SSP Poonch Shamsheer Hussain assured representatives of both the communities that the accused would be arrested as early as possible and strict action would be taken against him under the provision of law.
Representatives of all communities strongly condemned the misbehaviour with the woman and called for stringent punishment against the accused. Bhalla called upon the people of all communities to maintain peace and assured that police would leave no stone unturned in nabbing the accused.
Following this, the protesters agreed to defer their agitation and give police time to arrest the accused. After this, authorities lifted prohibitory orders enforced in Poonch town under Section 144 CrPC this morning, leading to restoration of complete normalcy.
SSP Poonch Shamsheer Hussain said police teams were conducting raids at various places to nab the accused. He added that a case has already been registered against the accused at Poonch police station.
In the morning as the deadline of 7 am set by the protesters for arrest of the accused expired, the agitated youths from minorities took to streets and forced closure of all Government offices, banks, educational institutions and business establishments.
Sensing trouble, authorities imposed Section 144 CrPC in the entire town, which prohibited assembly of more than four people. However, the protesters refused to relent and pelted stones on the police vehicle making announcement of imposition of prohibitory orders, damaging its mike.
The youths then moved towards Sher-i-Kashmir bridge, where some pelted stones on them causing injuries to five of them, one of them seriously. The seriously injured youth identified as Manpreet Singh son of Fardoot Singh of Mohalla Azad, who has been shifted to Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu. Police reached the spot and controlled the situation.
The protesters damaged about half a dozen vehicles plying on the roads.
The civil administration had alerted Army as a precautionary measure but didn’t deploy it as police controlled the situation and enforced prohibitory orders even as protesters at some places continued to burn tyres and block roads, disrupting vehicular movement.
The local civil and police administration also met representatives of the protesters and sought time for arrest of the accused. In the meantime, the Ministers and senior officers flew to Poonch and held extensive talks with the people of both communities in the presence of Army, civil and police officers, defusing the tension.
However, representatives of minorities warned that they would be forced to resume their protests if the accused was not arrested shortly.
The Minister and senior officer of civil and police administration returned here this evening.
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