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Autopsies to be done at Gujjar protest sites

Mohammed Iqbal

Bodies kept in hospitals sent to two sites; doctors’ teams waiting for go-ahead from officials

— Photo: AP

DEMAND MET: Gujjars receive bodies of police firing victims, near the blocked railway tracks at Bayana town in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan on Sunday.

JAIPUR: In the first indication of the crisis being resolved, the Rajasthan government on Sunday acceded to the demand of agitating Gujjars to conduct the post-mortem on the bodies of victims of police firing at the three sites of ongoing protests in Pilupura, Sikandra and Kushalipura and sent the 18 bodies kept in hospital mortuaries to two of the sites.

While 20 bodies of firing victims were lying in the open, 14 bodies were in Sawai Man Singh Hospital’s mortuary in Jaipur and four in the Bharatpur Government Hospital. The autopsy by the medical boards sent from Jaipur and Sawai Madhopur was likely to start late in the evening.

State Principal Secretary S.N. Thanvi, camping at Bayana in Bharatpur district, said the bodies would be handed over to relatives after autopsy. Arrangements for power generators and floodlights were made and temporary tents erected at the sites of post-mortem.

Mr. Thanvi said three teams comprising three doctors each were waiting for a go-ahead from the district administration near the railway track at Pilupura, where Gujjar supremo Kirori Singh Bainsla was sitting on a vigil with 12 bodies. The District Magistrate’s permission is required for post-mortem after sunset.

Agitators have placed huge slabs of ice on the bodies.

The bodies from the S.M.S. Hospital here, sent to Sikandra under police protection, were accompanied by doctors and the former pradhan from Dausa, Shobhna Gujjar.

The agitators were insisting on bringing all the bodies to the site to enable the community representatives monitor the process of autopsy.

The demand for post-mortem on bodies of those killed in the 10 days of violence at the sites of agitation arose after a couple of Cabinet Ministers raised doubts about the deaths caused by bullets from the guns of policemen. It was suspected that some of the victims were hit by shrapnel from other types of guns.

After the Gujjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti laid down conditions for post-mortem, the State government wrote to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences for constituting a medical team for the purpose. The AIIMS authorities turned down the request.

Even though the process for autopsy started at the three locations of sit-in protests, Gujjar leader Bainsla indicated to reporters at Pilupura that the agitation would not be affected by it and continue until the government sent a letter to the Centre recommending the inclusion of Gujjar community in the Scheduled Tribes category.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP and scion of the Bharatpur royal family, Vishvendra Singh, arrived at Pilupura on what he described as his “personal mission” to break the impasse and take Gujjars into confidence. He was accompanied by BJP leader Devi Singh Bhati.

With several major roads and rail routes blocked by the agitators, train and vehicular traffic continued to be affected. However, the situation was largely peaceful.

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