Jaipur, Oct 21 Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra and other party leaders spent a second consecutive night at the Jaipur Police Commissionerate, refusing to leave until an FIR is registered over the alleged assault on NSUI leader Ritu Barala by Delhi Police personnel.
The standoff intensified on Tuesday night when police used mild force to disperse Congress workers gathered outside the commissionerate in support of the protest, amid slogans, scuffles and disruption of traffic in the area.
Dotasra, who has been camping at the commissionerate since Monday evening along with Barala and other party leaders, said they would leave only after an FIR was registered.
The Congress leaders had slept in a corridor of the commissionerate on Monday night and stayed there again on Tuesday after their demand remained unresolved.
The protest gathered momentum on Tuesday as a large number of Congress workers assembled outside the commissionerate, raised slogans and demanded registration of an FIR. Scuffles broke out between party workers and police on a couple of occasions, affecting traffic movement in the area.
Police closed the main gate, erected barricades and deployed additional personnel to prevent protesters from entering the premises.
Jaipur Police has refused to register a Zero FIR, stating that Barala had already lodged a complaint over the same incident at Delhi’s Connaught Place police station on October 13 and that the matter was under investigation there.
A senior police official said Congress leaders had been informed that another FIR could not be registered in Jaipur on the same facts.
Dotasra, however, maintained that if an FIR had already been registered on Barala’s complaint in Delhi, Jaipur Police should provide them a copy, after which the Congress leaders would leave the commissionerate.
He also asserted that the law provided for registration of a Zero FIR.
PCC general secretary Swarnim Chaturvedi had said on Tuesday that nearly 100 Congress leaders were inside the commissionerate and would remain there until their demand was met.
The protest began on Monday evening after police at the Moti Dungri police station received Barala’s complaint but did not register an FIR.
Barala has alleged that women constables of the Delhi Police assaulted her inside a bus carrying detained protesters during an NSUI demonstration in the national capital on October 13.
The NSUI had staged the protest near Rajiv Chowk Metro station, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had asked Dotasra to pursue legal action over the alleged assault on Barala, who hails from Rajasthan.
(PTI News)
