Maharashtra cops shoot to kill?

Mtoday news / NDTV

Pune, August 11:  On camera, a group of policemen, many in anti-riot gear and armed with weapons and sticks, charge down a road; one fires from his revolver. Then, a cop goes to the edge of the road, takes aim at people running helter skelter beyond and fires. He looks for another vantage point and fires again. More policemen gather around and throw stones at the people running. 

 

Policemen are also seen venting rage at a stationary vehicle on the road. Cop after cop smashes the car.
 
These are visuals from Pune’s Maval Taluka, where three protesting farmers were killed in police firing on Tuesday. The incident has seen serious questions raised about police excesses and the Opposition is up in arms, forcing adjournment after adjournment of the Maharashtra Assembly. The state government has ordered a judicial inquiry, but the Opposition says, "not enough".

 

 

The issue has echoed at the centre as well. CPM leader Brinda Karat called the Congress "two faced". "When there is trouble with farmers in other states which do not have a congress government, their leaders flock the protest sites to raise questions. However, when an issue with farmers comes up in Maharashtra, a state where congress is in power, not one of their leaders has come out to answer a single question," she said.
 
The incident happened on Tuesday morning when thousands of farmers had blocked the Mumbai-Pune expressway to protest against an underground water pipeline project that will divert water from the Pawna dam to the Pimpri-Chinchwad Township.

The police claim that they resorted to firing after the protesters turned violent and hit a police inspector with a stone. They also claim that tear gas shells and rubber bullets were used, but that these failed to quell the violence and only then did some policemen fire from their service revolvers. Sandeep Karnik, the Superintendent of Police, Pune (Rural) denies all charges of police excesses. He has claimed that more than 30 policemen were injured by violent protestors.
 
"Charges that police killed innocent people is wrong...Protestors wanted to burn a police van in which there were six policemen. Charges of encounter of protestors are totally baseless. The situation was just going beyond control," Mr Karnik said, promising that "all facts will come out in the judicial inquiry."
 
The police claim they have video footage that "confirms our position