Police excesses to save Queen's Baton?

Cops allegedly manhandled the father of a youth leader who had planned to seize the Games' symbol

In the end it all happened peacefully, at least on the surface. A group of protestors in Jharkhand, who had announced their intention to snatch the Queen's Baton and immerse it into the Damodar river, failed to have their way. But they managed to express their opposition of the Commonwealth Games by organising a procession, wielding black flags.

Since Tuesday evening Dhanbad police had started conducting raids across the city to nab the protestors but failed to make any arrests.

The Baton entered Jharkhand from Bardhawan at around 1 pm and the entire 15-km stretch was cordoned off by security personnel and the area was turned into a fortress. A public ceremony turned into a high security affair fearing protests, which made locals stay away. The Baton, which has been carried openly on the roads during its trip through other states, was taken inside a highly protected bus, fearing the wrath of the protestors. Two extra companies of CISF were deployed to ensure a peaceful procession.

Most of the celebratory ceremonies were rescheduled and many were cancelled. "Over all it was a peaceful procession and we took all possible steps to ensure the safety of the Baton. Police were deployed in large numbers, with the administration not wanting to take any chances," said senior police officials.

Still the group of protestors managed to highlight their agenda through some flag-waving near the procession ceremony at Sanjay Chowk in Dhanbad and Nirsa.

"We could not take away the Baton due too high security but showed the black flags as a symbol of protest. I am happy that our message spread among locals and everyone joined us," said Binay Singh, a youth leader heading the protests.

Since Tuesday police were raiding places across Dhanbad to nab members of the group. Finally, failing in their endeavour, the cops took into cusody Binay Singh's father, a retired govt officer, reportedly to discover the whereabouts of his son.

"When police failed to arrest us on Wednesday morning, they arrested my father Ram Ikbal Singh, who recently came back from hospital after a surgery on his hand. He was manhandled and his stitches came off. We are waiting for the medical report so that we can take action against the police," Binay declared.