A policeman tries to douse burning tyres near Hinoo Chowk in Ranchi on Saturday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Jan. 8: A demonstration by a mob of around 250 people at the gates of St Xavier’s College for the arrest of a professor today flared up into a full-scale agitation even after their demand was met, paralysing main thoroughfares of the state capital for over four hours and leaving police at their wits end to contain the orgy of violence that followed.

None of the protesters was arrested though the police had to resort to lathicharge at crowded areas like Main Road, Hinoo Chowk, Doranda and Urdu Library where tyres were burnt and unsuspecting passersby targeted.

Senior superintendent of police Praveen Kumar maintained the incident was “blown out of proportion”, but claimed that normality had been restored in the city.

The protesters, primarily from the minority community, had gathered at the college gates around 11.15am to demand the arrest of Professor Efram Baa, who they said had allegedly misbehaved with a girl student yesterday.

The exciting cause, the police said, could have been the publication of photographs by a vernacular paper that showed the professor trying to tug at the scarf of a girl who was part of a group of second year intermediate students that had gathered at the college yesterday to stage a demonstration for not being allowed to appear for their final year examinations.

By noon today when the protesters had surrounded the college and burnt effigies of Principal Nicholas Tete and Baa, the police from Lower Bazar came to the campus and arrested Baa.

While he was being taken into custody, Baa apologised. “I didn’t know that the girl was of minority community, otherwise I would have never have pulled her hijab,” he told a television channel.

“When I inquired about her I-card she refused to show it. Then I asked her to remove the scarf from her face but she didn’t pay heed. So, I, unknowingly pulled the scarf from her face. I have been working in the field of education for over two decades with a clean character. I apologise for the entire incident,” Baa said.

SSP Singh said the police would now investigate the matter by looking at footage of yesterday’s protest at the college and talk to staff members and students to find out about the professor’s alleged role in matter.

“This fiasco erupted because of the irresponsible behaviour by the media as a few local dailies published it in such a way that the entire event was misrepresented,” Singh said, referring to the published photographs.

After Baa’s arrest — he is in judicial custody — the protesters broke up into small groups and fanned out into various parts of the city.

They burnt tyres, attacked shopkeepers and disrupted traffic at will as the police were nowhere in sight.

It was only after sometime that the police got their act together and barricaded the Main Road including the lane leading to St Xavier’s College to try and contain the violence.

Around 4pm the violence ebbed though an uneasy calm prevailed throughout the city well past evening.

“We have deployed adequate number of officers in all sensitive zones to avert any further untoward incidents,” said Singh, adding that FIRs were being lodged against 15 protesters who had been identified.

Talking to the media, principal Tete apologised for the “hijab incident”, saying it was an accident. “I apologise on behalf of the entire college,” he said.

Vice-principal Peter Pole said the college would stand by Professor Baa. “Tomorrow, we will apply for bail and Professor Baa will be retained in the college as he bears a good moral character,” he said.

Protest brings Ranchi to halt, Page 5