Police Fire Shots In Air To Disperse Mob In Jammu S Raika Bandi

Following stone pelting by an irate mob, which was allegedly incited by a tribal activist, police on Monday opened around four rounds in the air in Raika Bandi area where they had gone to remove temporary tents set up on a forest land, said officials. On May 1... On May 19, a joint team of forest department, forest protection force, police and revenue officials demolished around 32 illegally constructed houses on the forest land in Raika Bandi. “A police team along with women cops had gone to the Raika Bandi area to remove tents set up by the affected families. However, a tribal activist identified as Talib Hussain had staged a sit in there along with his supporters,” said a police officer. “Hussain refused to lift the sit-in and insisted on taking out a march. His supporters also resisted the policemen from discharging their duties,” he said. Amid commotion, police took Hussain into custody. However, his supporters resorted to stone pelting in which a woman police officer reportedly sustained injuries. “Amid stone pelting, police had to open four rounds of fire in the air to scare away Hussain’s supporters,” said the officer. The government had claimed in a written statement that the families evicted from the forest land were illegal occupants, who had encroached upon the forest land and had raised their houses. However, families evicted claimed that the demolition drive was partial and that they were not served any notices. On May 13, several people led by BJP MLA from Bahu assembly constituency, Vikram Randhawa, staged a protest, burnt tyres and disrupted traffic movement for nearly two hours on Jammu-Nagrota national highway 44 at Sidhra against alleged encroachment upon forest land by some people of particular community near the ancient temple. The BJP MLA had also charged Omar government of encouraging people from Kashmir to usurp government land in Jammu in a bid to change its demography. Following stone pelting by an irate mob, which was allegedly incited by a tribal activist, police on Monday opened around four rounds in the air in Raika Bandi area where they...