Police use pepper spray in Rajasthan's Pali to disperse protesters; women fall ill

Jaipur: In an unusual way to disperse an agitated crowd, police in Rajasthan's Pali district today used chilli-pepper spray to disperse protestors at the Collectorate today. Two women fell ill after the spraying.

People belonging to the Seervi caste have been demanding the arrest of some miscreants who attacked a family belonging to the community, including women, with sticks and arms on July 16 this year in Dholap village, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Deseuri police station.

The miscreants attacked Shravan and Hemaram Choudhary, including women members of their family who were then constructing their house. Both of them were injured grievously and had to be hospitalised. Hemaram Choudhary was referred to a Jodhpur hospital.

Two people from Padampura village - Pushpendra Singh, Jaipal Singh and their accomplices attacked the Choudhary family. They are still at large. The people are also demanding the suspension of police personnel from the Desuri police station.

Today, after the police failed to nab the culprits, people belonging to the Seervi caste gathered at the Seervi hostel and marched to the Collectorate, sloganeering and demanding the arrest of the miscreants. As a precautionary measure, the gates of the Collectorate were closed and police personnel were deployed to guard the premises.

But the agitated crowd pushed their way in, leading to a scuffle between the police and the protesters. Protesters included both men and women. Some women protesters tried to push their way into the Collectorate chamber, who were then stopped by women police constables. The police used chilli pepper spray to stop the flustered women.

As the spray spread, two of the women dissenters, Kanya Bai and Pain Bai, took ill and were taken to the Vagad Welfare Hospital.

Seervi caste people, who are mostly agriculturists, are found in the Jodhpur and Pali region, and are a sub-caste of the Jats. They belonged to the Kshatriya clan and gave up war to adopt farming.

The Seervi community has been demanding the arrest of the people who fled and are still at large, 45 days after the attack on the women of the Choudhary family. But they alleged that the police have been inactive and that is why they decided to take out an 'Aakrosh rally' to the Collectorate today.

The Collectorate office confirmed the news of the protestors, saying they handed over a memorandum at the office and the crowd had to be dispersed forcefully. But they did not confirm whether pepper spray was used on the agitators or not.