Indian police shoot three protesting students dead
Police gunfire killed three college students today as they were protesting at the alleged sexual molestation of fellow students by police on a train in eastern India, student groups and officials said.
A crowd of students and residents gathered at a train station in Assam state, after other students aboard an approaching train telephoned friends in the area and said police on the train had molested female students on board, a student leader said.
As the train pulled into the station at Salakati – a small town about 130 miles west of Assam’s capital, Gauhati – the protesters charged the travelling policemen’s train carriage with bricks and stones, said Rwngwra Narzary, a local student union president.
Narzary, who said he was on the scene during the violence, claimed that policemen had opened fire when the enraged protesters tried to force their way into the rail car. The police shooting killed two students instantly, he said.
Another died on the way to a hospital, Narzary said.
“Three students have died in the firing. An inquiry into the circumstances which led to the firing has been initiated,” said Assam’s inspector general of police, Khagen Sharma.
Three policemen were wounded in the scuffle and taken to hospital, Sharma said.
No arrests had been made, he said.
The 200-member police contingent had been riding the Gauhati-bound train from their home state of Haryana, in northern India, for anti-insurgency training with the Assam Rifles – a specialised force created to fight the insurrections plaguing various parts of India.
