A man helps Pramila Padhi, the injured policewoman, during a clash between Congress workers and cops in Bhubaneswar on Thursday. (PTI)

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 6: Pramila Padhi, a constable with city police, will not forget today’s experience in a hurry.

Caught in the vortex of violence that erupted during the Congress rally here, the 39-year-old policewoman sustained serious injuries. The mob of Congress workers pulled her into their midst and beat her up. By the time other policemen rescued her, she had sustained serious injuries and fallen unconscious.

“We had to carry her for around 200 metres to an ambulance and rush her to Capital Hospital. Her condition was critical,” said Susmita Roul, another woman constable. Pramila was attached to Infocity police station and deployed near the Congress Bhavan for crowd control.

“When the violent mob chased us with sticks, I fell down and around 30 persons attacked me. They kicked and thrashed me with sticks. Though I had worn the security jacket, it was of little help,” said the constable.

She was among the 60 police personnel to have sustained injuries in the violence. The others included inspector in charge of Nayapalli police station Anup Kanungo. Following injuries to his head, Kanungo had to be rushed to a private hospital. He was beaten with sticks and hit by a stone.

“I was asking my men to rally back instead of running away. Someone hit me from behind, and then some people in the mob started beating me with sticks,” said Kanungo.

Inspector in charge of Mangalabag police station in Cuttack Pramod Rath, who had been requisitioned for duty in the capital today, also sustained injuries on his head in the mob attack, along with assistant commissioner of police of Cuttack P.K. Jena.

More than 60 police personnel and over 300 protesters sustained injuries as the rally by the Congress activists at Mahatma Gandhi Marg turned violent this afternoon. More than 10 journalists, too, were injured, two of them seriously.

President of the Keonjhar district women Congress wing Pravati Jena, who is undergoing treatment at Capital Hospital, said the police beat her up.

“The policemen beat me up even though I had no role in the brick-batting,” said the woman, who sustained injuries on her head.

The police personnel clashed with the demonstrators when the Congress workers tried to enter the prohibited area in front of the Assembly by breaking the security barricade. Within no time, the road turned into a battlefield with the Congress agitators attacking the police, forcing them to retaliate. The police force resorted to batons to disperse the mob of around 50,000.

The battle continued for more than four hours, as 30 platoons of police failed to disperse the mob. With senior police officers taking no steps to disperse the crowd, the security personnel waited for the mob to stop hurling stones on their own.

At times, the securitymen armed with batons had to hide behind police vehicles to shield themselves.

A group of women constables was found hiding in a garage. “We do not want to face them with just batons in our hands. They are not even sparing women,” said Gita Jena, a woman constable.

DGP Prakash Mishra said the violence was well planned. “Despite more than 60 police personnel sustaining injuries, we restrained from taking extreme measures. As per the instructions of the chief minister, Capital Hospital authorities have been providing free treatment to all injured persons,” said Mishra.