Lathi charge to be probed

Mumbai: The state government on Tuesday expressed regret over lathi charge on the differently-abled and hearing impaired students. The government has already ordered a probe into it, said the leader of the Upper House and revenue minister Chandrakant Patil while replying to the demands of suspension of the police who carried out the lathi charge.

The Opposition leader in the Council, Dhananjay Munde demanded suspension of police while, the Shiv Sena has demanded judicial probe into the incident

Raising the issue in the state legislative Assembly, leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil demanded a strict action against police officers for ordering lathi charge. Replying to him, Pune guardian minister, Girish Bapat said the incident would be investigated and action would be taken.

Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, chairman of the Council has sought a preliminary report over the lathi charge by Wednesday. The agitators alleged that the police baton charged against them despite protesting in a peaceful manner.

Close to 11,000 differently-abled students across the state had gathered outside the Social Welfare Commission-erate in Pune, protesting for the fulfilment of their demands. In response to this, the Pune police resorted to lathi charge in order to disperse the protesters thereby injuring 35 students in the process.

The right to quality education, prevention of fraudulent distribution of disability certificates to able-bodied individuals and provision of trained interpreters for deaf students were among the students’ demands

Social justice minister, Rajkumar Badole, said demands of the protesting students have been discussed with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the demands pertaining to education of differently-abled students have been accepted.