Women manhandled for waving black flags at Amit Shah’s convoy

Three students of Allahabad University were arrested on July 27 as they waved black flags at the convoy of BJP president Amit Shah who was visiting the city. Of the three, two were women and both of them were dragged, with one of them grabbed by the hair and beaten by a policeman.

The video that has now gone viral on social media portrays the two students waving black flags while standing in the middle of the road and blocking the lead vehicle in the BJP president’s convoy. Along with them a male student too is visible in the video waving a piece of black cloth.

Allahabad: Protesters who were detained by police earlier for staging a protest against BJP President Amit Shah’s visit to the city, were released yesterday.

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 28, 2018

That’s when the crux of the matter comes into being as two male policemen rushed in and dragged the three protesting students out of the way. The three were then pushed into a police vehicle while a policeman was seen hitting one of the female students, identified during preliminary probe as Neha Yadav, with his baton. The girl was then grabbed by her hair and pushed toward the vehicle. The video also revealed a senior police officer who then rushed in to intervene and shouted, “no beatings”.

Police also stated that the three identified as Neha Yadav, Rama Yadav and Kishan Maurya will be produced before court. The three of them are reportedly a part of Samajwadi Party’s student wing, the Samajwadi Chatra Sabha.

While Neha Yadav is a pursuing her PhD, Rama Yadav is pursuing postgraduate studies at Allahabad University, police reported.

“Students were trying to show black flags in a peaceful manner but they were brutally assaulted and abused and there was no lady police. The law was violated. Male officers misbehaved and assaulted ladies,” Samajwadi Party leader Richa Singh said.

A similar incident occured last year in June when 12 students were arrested by the Lucknow police and charged under serious offences including rioting, and rejected accusations of an overreach of the law for showing black flags and holding up the convoy of Yogi Adityanath for which the students had apparently breached security protocol. The students were bailed out a few months later.

Also Read: Amit Shah addresses party workers to fight alone in the 2019 elections