Patna will witness a Raj Bhavan march today under the leadership of Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav over the AK-47 firing and police action during a student protest in Siwan. The march is scheduled to begin from JP Golambar at 10 am on August 19.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal had initially proposed the march from the party office to Raj Bhavan, but the programme was later changed. The march will now begin from JP Golambar at 10 am. Tejashwi Yadav has appealed to RJD leaders, MPs and MLAs to participate.
Patna Police have increased security arrangements in view of the march, including deployment of additional personnel in key areas such as Dak Bungalow Chowraha.
The main issue behind the march is the police firing during a student protest in Siwan. Videos of the incident showed a police personnel firing an AK-47. The personnel was later identified as Abhishek Patel and was suspended.
Tejashwi Yadav has questioned why AK-47 firing was required during the student protest and who ordered the action. He has said that suspending one police personnel is not sufficient and that responsibility for the entire incident should be established.
Tejashwi Yadav has also said that he met injured students from the Siwan incident in Patna and provided them assistance. He has alleged that senior government leaders did not consider it necessary to meet the injured students.
The Siwan administration had said that the police personnel fired the AK-47 into the air rather than towards the crowd and that no person was injured by an AK-47 bullet. The administration also said that the injuries sustained by three youths would be investigated separately.
The government has maintained a different position on the incident in its response filed before the Supreme Court. It said excessive force was not used and that no student was injured in the AK-47 firing. According to the government, the police personnel fired four rounds into the air. The response also referred to a large number of FIRs and arrests in the matter.
The Bihar Police headquarters has issued directions restricting the use of AK-47, INSAS and SLR assault weapons for crowd-control and law-and-order duties. According to the order, the use of such weapons will be limited to cases involving extremism, terrorism and major criminals.
The order was issued after the student firing incident in Siwan and ahead of the proposed Raj Bhavan march.
Patna Police have strengthened security arrangements ahead of the march. Additional monitoring will be maintained on routes from JP Golambar towards Raj Bhavan and in other sensitive areas.
Dak Bungalow Chowraha, an important traffic point in the city, has also seen additional police deployment. Barricading and other arrangements may be made to regulate traffic and keep the crowd on the designated route if the number of protesters increases.
Traffic diversions may also be introduced on some routes if required.
Tejashwi Yadav has repeatedly questioned why an AK-47 was used during a student protest when several large-scale protests had taken place in the country previously. He has also questioned at what level the order for the firing was issued and why action was not taken against responsible officials.
Before the march, Tejashwi Yadav also alleged that students were being prevented from coming to Patna and expressed concern that police force could be used during the protest.
He has described the march as an issue involving students and youth rather than only an RJD political programme. The party has indicated that a large number of leaders and workers are likely to participate.
RJD chief Lalu Yadav has also supported the movement. While raising issues concerning young people, he launched a political attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised questions about the future of young people.
The suspension of one police personnel has not ended the dispute over the Siwan incident. The opposition continues to question whether action against one personnel at the lower level is sufficient and has demanded an inquiry into the order to fire and responsibility for the overall police action.
The government and administration, meanwhile, have presented their own account of the incident, maintaining that the AK-47 firing was carried out in the air and that no student was injured by it.
Tejashwi Yadav is expected to raise issues concerning student safety, police action and accountability before the Governor during the march. The RJD is seeking to bring the Siwan firing issue into the broader political debate over student rights, police action and government accountability.
The march is also expected to affect traffic in Patna. Additional police monitoring will remain in place along the route from JP Golambar towards Raj Bhavan, with possible traffic diversions if the crowd increases.
