Five policemen were injured after a mob resorted to stone pelting outside Dondaicha police station at Dondaicha town in Dhule district. The incident took place when the mob comprising around 75 people escaped with two accused from the police station who were arrested in a sexual harassment case of a minor girl. The police also resorted to firing injuring two people.
Meanwhile, outside the civil hospital where the two injured men were taken for treatment, a clash with another group of people over the incident at the police station led to the death of a 50-year-old man.
The situation is said to be under control and additional police security including adequate personnel from the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) platoon is deployed at the police station and at the hospital.
According to Dondaicha police, a sexual harassment case of a minor girl under section 354 of IPC and under sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) was lodged at the police station on Wednesday afternoon.
Two brothers and a third person were arrested in the case the same night. The mob had come to the police station to take away the accused. When the police asked them to leave, they got violent and started pelting stones at the police station injuring five policemen.
At 11.30 pm, in a bid to control the mob violence, police fired two rounds injuring one man on his hand and another on the thigh. Both were taken to the civil hospital in Dondaicha and are out of danger. In the meantime, the mob managed to escape with the two accused.
At 12.15 am Thursday, a fight took place between two groups of local people outside the civil hospital over the rioting incident at the police station. One Shahbaz Shah (50), who was assaulted resulting in severe head injuries, succumbed.
Superintendent of Police, Dhule, Chinmay Pandit told The Indian Express, “The situation is peaceful now. We have made separate teams to nab all the accused. It will be premature to term the incident as communal or political.”
“We have registered two FIRs. One is for attempt to murder, obstructing on duty public servant from discharging duty, helping the accused to escape from police custody, rioting with dangerous weapons among other charges and the second one is a case of murder outside the civil hospital against three persons. We are on the lookout for the accused,” said Dnyaneshwar Ware of Dondaicha Police Station.
