Kolkata/Bhusaval: People travelling from West Bengal to Vadodara in Gujarat to take part in the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations were allegedly assaulted by hawkers at Bhusaval railway station in Maharashtra on Friday, IANS reported. The Bhusaval railway police confirmed that a complaint has been lodged and several people have been detained for questioning, and said further investigation is under way.

The travellers were a group of 99 people from Jhargram district, selected by the district administration to travel by a special train to Vadodara for the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations on October 31. The group included police and administrative officers from the district. When the train stopped at Bhusaval, some passengers got down on the platform to stretch their legs after the long journey, participant Nirmalendu Mahato said.

Video on the platform, then a push and a scuffle

Mahato said he and his daughter bought bananas on the platform, and that he then began recording a video of the station surroundings — Bhusaval is well known for its bananas, he said. According to his account, an elderly man approached him from behind and harshly told him to stop recording; when Mahato asked why, others gathered, and he was pushed from behind as he tried to send his daughter back into the compartment. His co-passengers accosted the hawkers, resulting in a minor scuffle, and officers travelling with the group tried to calm the situation.

Mahato alleged that the man then left and returned within minutes with more than 20 men, who assaulted the group. At least a dozen members of the group received injuries to their faces, shoulders, backs and other parts of the body, he said. The group managed to get back into the train and contacted the Railway Protection Force (RPF). The injured received treatment at the next station, where a complaint was also registered by the railway police, and after reaching Vadodara they were taken to hospital for a medical examination.

Seven identified and detained, police say

Mahato said senior police officers from Bhusaval reached Vadodara on the evening of October 30 and spoke to the group in detail, and that a Deputy Superintendent of Police of the West Bengal Police who was travelling with the group also provided details. The group was told that seven of the alleged attackers have been identified and detained, and that more people will be booked as the investigation progresses, he said.

A senior police official said the attack was allegedly the work of illegal hawkers, against whom Central Railway has been taking action for the past few months. Several hundred illegal hawkers have been identified and removed from stations in the area, but they keep returning, the official said, adding that it appears the hawkers feared their activities were being recorded on video. The allegations against those detained are yet to be tested, and the investigation is continuing.

Source: IANS via HiIndia