Scores of Congress workers were today injured after being allegedly lathicharged by police during a protest rally against the ruling BJP in Bastar district.
However, officials said that a scuffle had broken out between Congress workers and police personnel at Kotwali police station, in which some security personnel were also injured.
Congress workers were staging a protest at Jagdalpur in Bastar over the government's alleged clampdown on democracy in the state.
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"Police lathicharged Congress workers protesting peacefully, during which many of them sustained injuries. The Raman Singh government is trying to suppress the democratic rights of the opposition. Even women were brutally beaten up...Journalists were also not spared," Congress state unit general secretary Shailesh Nitin Trivedi alleged.
Trivedi said the incident reflects the "dictatorial and barbaric" attitude of the state government.
He sought action against Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, and other officers responsible for the incident.
Meanwhile, Bastar Superintendent of Police RN Dash told PTI that he has received a complaint about the lathicharge incident and will conduct an inquiry in this regard.
"As per the preliminary information, a tension erupted after police resisted the entry of Congress workers to Kotwali police station," he said, adding that five policemen were reportedly injured in the incident.
Earlier, AICC general secretary BK Hariprasad, party state unit president Bhupesh Baghel, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly TS Singhdeo along with a large number of party workers staged a protest march in Jagdalpur.
"Bastar is going through a bad phase where administrative terrorism is at peak. The situation is turning from bad to worse day by day here," Baghel said, adding that the party will continue to fight against the "misrule" of BJP.
