Home guards take shelter at the BJP party office after police chased them away from Mahatma Gandhi Marg on Sunday morning. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 31:Baton-charging policemen allegedly injured seven protesting home guards, arrested four and stole belongings while trying to evict them from Mahatma Gandhi Marg here early this morning.

However, the police did not confirm the arrests. They said the home guards were evicted because they did not have the permission required to stage a protest on Mahatma Gandhi Marg.

The protesting home guards said that around 400 of them were protesting on the Mahatma Gandhi Marg when the police suddenly charged baton on them.

“Around 3.30 in the morning, a police force led by assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Nihar Das and a number of inspectors reached our tent and asked us to stop our protest. When we told them that we would not move from the spot unless our demands were met, they started charging batons on us,” said Jitendra Naik, a home guard from Rourkela.

The police also allegedly tore a picture of Mahatma Gandhi in front of which the home guards were protesting.

“We were sleeping when the cops started charging batons. We had to run for cover and several of us suffered severe injuries,” said Anirudha Sahu, a home guard from Bargarh who suffered injuries on his hands and thighs. The protesters complained that the police not only beat them, but also took away their money and cell phones.

Some women home guards alleged that male police personnel assaulted and misbehaved with them. They said that though they did not indulge in any form of violence, the police used batons to disperse them while they were sleeping at night. The home guards threatened that if the government didn’t fulfil their demands, they would intensify their agitation from Tuesday and resort to self-immolation.

“We do not want to go back home without our demands being fulfilled. It would be better if we kill ourselves. We will set ourselves on fire. If we return home, we will be forced to join the Maoists,” said Rudra Hota, a leader of the protesting home guards.

The home guards had been sitting on strike on the Mahatma Gandhi Marg since March 20 demanding a hike in their daily remuneration from Rs 200 to Rs 400. They also demanded that they be declared as fourth-grade employees and the retrenched home guards be reinstated.

Though the protesting home guards observed a ceasework on March 20 and 21, they resorted to breaking the law on March 22 by trying to enter into the prohibited area in front of Assembly. On that day, the police resorted to baton charge after the home guards allegedly pelted stones on them and injuring around 10 people, including the director general and deputy commissioner of police. Subsequently, around 50 home guards were arrested.

Since March 23, the home guards have again sat on an indefinite protest on the Mahatma Gandhi Marg. But the police tried to evict them from the protest venue today as the home guards had threatened to abstain from Utkal Divas celebrations. At present, around 17,775 agitated home guards, including over 1,600 in Bhubaneswar, have been refraining from their duties. This protest has affected the police, who have also been languishing because of lack of manpower, in many ways. Police patrolling in the city have been badly affected because of the home guards’ strike.

ACP Das said that the place which the home guards had been “illegally occupying” had been provided to another group which also wanted to stage a protest on another issue. “The other group will come tomorrow. So, we had to evict them today,” said Das.