19 arrested for attacking cops in Jharkhand during Kurmi agitation: Police

Nineteen persons including one Amit Mahato were arrested on Friday for violating prohibitory orders and attacking police personnel on September 20, a senior police officer said.

Chaibasa: Nineteen persons including one Amit Mahato, who was leading members of Kurmi community during the recent Rail Teka (blockade) at Ghaghra halt in Manoharpur under Chakradharpur division of South East Railway, were arrested on Friday for violating prohibitory orders and attacking police personnel on September 20, a senior police officer said.

An on-duty magistrate and few police personnel sustained injuries after the protestors attacked them with lathis, said West Singhbhum SP Ashutosh Shekhar.

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Addressing a press conference here, the SP said despite Section 144 CrPC being clamped around Ghaghra halt in view of the agitation call by the Adivasi Kurmi Samaj (AKS) on Wednesday, hundreds of agitators squatted on the tracks since 8am disrupting rail services.

Around 9pm, the on-duty magistrate informed the agitators that their central committee leaders have withdrawn the stir after the government agreed to have negotiations with them on their demands (inclusion of Kurmi community in the list of Schedule Tribe and recognition of Kurmali language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution), the SP said.

However, Mahato incited the crowd by accusing the magistrate of trying to foil the agitation and started attacking policemen with lathis and indulged in brick-batting, the SP said.

Police have registered an FIR against 36 persons including Mahato in this connection under various sections of IPC in Manoharpur police station in West Singhbhum, he added.