Badwani SP Asha Mathur denies Lathi Charge on farmers!

13-year old child among those injured badly, over 20 men and women badly injured and hospitalized!

Guilty Police officers also falsely admit themselves into hospital; this is a charade and mockery of injured persons!

Following the lathi charge on farmers protesting the illegal cash compensation disbursal of the M.P. government in Badwani yesterday, the Badwani SP, Ms. Asha Mathur, has denied that there was a lathi charge on the people. This false and dishonest statement comes even as over 20 people had to be hospitalized due to injuries sustained during the lathi charge. Among those gravely injured is 13-year old Suren Jagan of Avalda village, whose hand has been brutally broken. It also must be noted that it was male police beat women and men!

To add insult to injury, some of the guilty police officials also admitted themselves falsely into hospital, claiming that the protestors had beat them. The people refute these baseless charges.

Four villages, Rajghat, Chikhalda, Kadmal and Khaparkheda observed a ‘bandh’ today, with all shops and business closed for the day. Meanwhile, people are continuing to sit in front of the NVDA office. More people and bullock-carts arrived throughout the day. Vinod Kumar, Commissioner of NVDA visited the dharna site, but refused to even talk about the lathi charge, let alone apologize for it as people were demanding.

The people are demanding an immediate end to the illegal cash compensation distribution by the M.P. government. They are demanding cultivable land for their resettlement as per the orders of the Supreme Court dated October 18, 2000 and more recently March 15, 2005. They are also demanding that the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam should not be raised any further since rehabilitation has not been done.