Bharat Bandh: Three dead in MP during police-protester clash

New Delhi: Two people died in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior and one in Morena – some 450 kilometres from the state capital of Bhopal – as police personnel clashed with a group of demonstrators protesting against the dilution of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act following a Supreme Court order.

In Morena, Rahul Pathak was reportedly standing on the balcony of his house in an area where demonstrators clashed with police personnel. During the unrest, a bullet was fired – hitting Rahul who died en route to the hospital.

Another person was shot dead during clashes in Gwalior. A man was videotaped brandishing a pistol and firing shots but it is not confirmed if the victim here was killed by the same person. As many as 19 people have been injured in the protests with two reportedly in critical condition.

While a curfew has been imposed in Morena and Gwalior, similar instances of violence have been reported from many other parts of the country. Protestors resorted to stone pelting in Agra, cars and public buses were burnt in Meerut, shops were vandalised in Hapur, halting long-distance trains across Bihar, sloganeering in Delhi’s Mandi House. Reports of violence also came in from Punjab where CBSE exams had to be put off and security heightened.