Anti-Padmaavat violence: Mahapanchayat today as villagers push to free youths

GURUGRAM: The villagers of Bhondsi will hold a mahapanchayat on Sunday to decide on their course of action to free the 18 youths, including eight minors, apprehended from the village for attacking school buses and burning a Haryana Roadways bus on Wednesday.
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The villagers and their families said the boys were innocent and Haryana Police made the arrests in haste.They plan to give a memorandum to the police commissioner to release all the youths after the panchayat.
Durga Devi, sarpanch of Bhondsi village, said, “The rioters were not from Bhondsi. The police had made video clips of the entire incident. Not a single clip shows a boy from Bhondsi.”
The eight minors apprehended from Bhondsi have been sent to the observation home in Faridabad. Their case comes up for hearing on Monday.
Shakuntala Dhull, chairperson, Child Welfare Committee (CWC), said, “The minors, detained in the rioting case, are most likely to get bail after a warning, since this is not a heinous crime. Their fault is that they were part of a riot mob. ”
The CWC has ensured that the juveniles would be counselled once released. “They will be counselled to not indulge in any such activity again. A sociological report of these eight boys will be prepared. We want to check whether they have a past history of crimes,” Dhull said.
“Some of the boys detained by the cops are students of classes IX and X. After the rioters ran away, cops came into our village and arrested whoever they saw, including small boys. They were only watching the events. Without even hearing us out, the cops took the boys,” said Devi.
The villagers met district magistrate Vinay Pratap Singh on Saturday and sought his intervention in the matter. Singh has told them to ensure that no further violence takes place in the village.
Pratipal, whose son has been apprehended by the police, said that a team of 20 youths from the village would patrol the Gurugram-Alwar highway’s Bhondsi stretch to keep an eye on those inciting violence.
The villagers have decided to not apply for bail for the 18 youths and want them to be set free. “Our boys were going to tuitions or football practice. They are being falsely accused. We want to bring them home with dignity,” said Jaiprakash, father of Kamal who was detained.
On Friday, the villagers didn’t hoist the flag on Republic Day in a show of protest.
They said they were disappointed with the cops for tainting the future of their sons. “Haryana Police have a tendency to arrest the wrong people. Earlier, bus conductor Ashok from the neighbouring village of Ghamroj was falsely accused for killing a school boy. Now, our children have been arrested,” said Anil Raghav, whose son Tarun is in judicial custody.