CPI(M) hits out at MP govt for arrest of party activists

CPI(M) today criticised the Madhya Pradesh government for the arrest of party activists and others before they could stage a demonstration two days ago in Indore for seeking Supreme Court-monitored probe in the alleged encounter of eight SIMI activists after Bhopal jailbreak.
"The BJP government in the state is throttling the voices of people," CPI(M) politburo member Subhashini Ali said in a statement.
She said her party and human rights activists were arrested before they could hold a demonstration on November 5 at Indore seeking an apex court-monitored probe into the October 31 Bhopal encounter of eight SIMI men accused of terror.

The demonstration was also organised against the one-day ban order on NDTV India channel telecast on November 9, said the senior Left leader, who is in-charge of her party's state affairs.
90-year-old Anand Mohan Mathur, former MP Advocate General and the senior-most practising lawyer of the state, was scheduled to lead the demonstration.
Hours before the protests, the police swooped on the CPI(M) office and arrested everyone there undemocratically, Ali alleged.

Mathur was pushed into his house and the car keys snatched from his driver by the police, she further alleged.
The venue of the demonstration, Regal Square at Indore, was surrounded by hundreds of police men and everyone approaching the venue were also arrested, state CPI(M) Secretary Badal Saroj said.

All those arrested were detained for a long time.
The CPI(M), CPI and other groups are not going to sit quiet, Saroj said.
"We are going to hold a statewide protest seeking Supreme Court-monitored probe into the encounter and against the ban on NDTV India shortly," he said.
"We are not going to disclose the date of the protest as the state government will again try to throttle our voice by arresting us before the demonstration," he added.