In a shocking incident at the Patna Bharat Bandh protest

By Palak Srivastava

Shocking incident at the Patna Bharat Bandh protest

 In a shocking incident at the Patna Bharat Bandh protest, police accidentally hit an SDM with a lathi in a lathi charge. The situation had gone quite out of control with the policing at the spot trying to handle the protesting crowd on Monday. A shocking lathi blow, which was unexpected, has been captured in a video and is circulating on social media.

In this video, one of the cops, apparently unaware of his responsibility, strikes the head of the SDM from behind with his baton. The SDM visibly winces from the sudden blow, but the situation is in control. The video has sparked a lot of debate, with most people worried about how the police handle such situations.

The police resorted to lathi charge in a bid to manage the protest that had turned violent in several pockets. A Bharat Bandh has been called against several issues that have managed to evoke tensions across the country. The protestors in Patna were reported to lose their calm after which the police resorted to doing lathi charge to disperse the crowd.

This incident, however, raises a question about the police training and their sensitivity to such issues of high tension, specifically at a protest. The accident of targeting an SDM has now raised the requirement for coordination and better communication among the faculties of authorities at such events.

Social media users were very brutal on the video, some of them blaming the police for being aggressive, while others termed it as an unfortunate incident. Many others called for a review of the procedures adopted by police during protests to avert such accidents in future.

The incident has also evoked debate about just how safe government officials and citizens are during such protests. The incident exhibits once again the unpredictability of mass protest, and it also shows an important reminder that enforcement agencies have to take good care of it.

This incident may prompt a relook at protocols and training of police personnel, so that such mishaps are not repeated in the future. The concerned SDM's force has, at no point, responded to this incident; neither is anything known about the action, if any, that must be spelled out against the police personnel involved.

The incident simply goes on to point out the challenges that police face in the control of crowds at protests and what needs to really be done in preparation and placing more precision in the actual process of crowd control. Notably, the video has not stopped spreading through the Internet, going to become a major subject of controversy and public concern.

By Palak Srivastava