Family members cremate body of Anandpal Singh, curfew relaxed for an hour
Last Updated:
28 people including policemen were injured in clashes between police and protestors in Sanvrad village of Churu district after a meeting in protest of Anandpal Singh encounter on Wednesday.
Jaipur: The body of Anandpal Singh was cremated at his native village Sanvrad on Thursday, 20 days after the notorious criminal was gunned down by Rajasthan police’s special operations group (SOG) in an encounter. The cremation took place a day after the violent protest at Sanvard in which one man was killed and nearly 28 others were injured. The state government has heaved a sigh of relief after the cremations as the sentiments were running high and some people were being accused of politicizing the issue and taking advantage of a community’s emotional response.
The human rights commission had directed the state government on Wednesday to ensure that the body of Anandpal Singh was consigned to flames as keeping it in freezer was inhuman and could cause contaminated diseases.
In compliance with the directions, Rajasthan home minister Gulab Chand Kataria had warned that if the family members didn’t perform the last rites in 24 hours, the state government would cremate the body.
Kataria challenged the family members to file a plea in court demanding CBI probe. He said that the encounter was justified as Anandpal had opened fire at policemen despite the fact that he was asked to surrender multiple times.
More than 150 people were arrested by the police a day after the violence at Sanvrad.
The family members had called a public meeting and organized a protest rally which was attended by thousands of people from Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The situation went out of control when the protestors first hurled stones and then attempted to torch a train and uprooted railway tracks. They also set afire the car of an IPS officer and attempted to attack him. SP, Ajmer Paras Deshmukh and 20 other policemen were injured in the clashes. The police opened fire in which one man, identified as Lalchand Sharma was killed.
The administration clamped curfew in the village following the violence. It was relaxed for an hour on Thursday to let the family members cremate the body.
The internet services continued to be suspended in Nagaur, Churu and Bikaner districts.
Related stories:
Internet ban in Nagaur, Bikaner, Churu and Sikar extended after violence in Sanvrad
Curfew imposed in Sanvrad village after clashes, firing
Police firing in Anandpal village: 1 killed, 28 injured in clashes
