Assault on students: Two cops suspended

IMPHAL: The Manipur government has suspended a police sub-inspector and a constable for beating volunteers of Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur (Desam) when they were staging a protest in support of their demand to remove Manipur University vice-chancellor Adya Prashad Pandey on Monday. Pandey has been accused of financial and administrative irregularities in the Centre-run university.
At least eight Desam volunteers were injured when police lathicharged them at the gate of the BJP office at Neityaipat Chuthek in Imphal. city on Monday. In the melee, Desam secretary general Oinam Shital was hit by a truck and sustained serious injuries. Desam leaders charged the police with deliberately pushing Shital towards the running truck. Shital is a student of LMS Law College in Imphal.
Chief minister Biren Singh, who holds the home portfolio, visited Shital and other injured Desam volunteers at the private Raj Medicity here on Thursday and informed them about the suspension of the two policemen. He also wished them speedy recovery.
"Without investigation, the government does not normally take action. But in this particular incident, we analyzed the video footage and then suspended the two policemen," Biren told the media. He added that the cost of treating the injured students will be borne by the state government.
Earlier, Desam had warned of launching a vigorous agitation if the government fails to probe into the incident and punish the guilty police personnel. Various social organizations and even opposition parties have expressed their anguish over the police brutality on the striking students.
On the other hand, police commandos at Minuthong here put down their service weapons on Thursday as a token of protest against the decision to suspend of a sub-inspector and constable for assaulting student agitators. The matter was resolved after top police officials rushed to the spot and convinced the irate commandos, a source said.
In a separate incident, suspected rebels exploded an IED in the remote Joupi area of Tengnoupal district bordering Myanmar on Thursday morning, injuring an Assam Rifles jawan.