Four people were killed and over 20 others injured on Wednesday as the police fired at a rampaging mob protesting against the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in the coal city of Dhanbad in eastern Jharkhand. Curfew was clamped on the city in the evening as the police feared violent retaliations from the people.
Along with these deaths, the total number of people killed by police firing in Jharkhand during protests against the ongoing 45-day-long eviction drive rose to six while five people have earlier died reportedly from psychological trauma caused by seeing scenes of their houses being bulldozed. The drive to remove illegal encroachments in several cities and towns across Jharkhand began after an order of the Jharkhand high court.
The death of four people — two during the protests and two others during treatment — evoked sharp criticism from all parties and the intelligentsia who unanimously described the police action on unarmed people as patently barbaric. The Opposition RJD likened the firing as a rerun of the Jalianwalabag massacre.
Teargas shells were first fired to disperse the protesters at the Matkuria locality of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), but they had to be lathicharged as they turned violent and pelted stones, injuring a few policemen, including Dhanbad SP R.K. Dhan.