Cops used expired tear gas shells on protesters in Charkhi Dadri: Sacked PTIs
Superintendent of police Vinod Kumar said that the police had used tear gas shells on the protesters but they were not expired.
Sacked physical training instructors (PTIs) on Saturday alleged that the Haryana police had used expired tear gas shells to disperse some of them protesting against deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala in Charkhi Dadri district.
Police have denied the allegations. However, the protesters had clicked photographs of the tear gas shells used on them on Friday. The police had also resorted to lathicharge and using water cannons to stop protesters from crossing the barricades outside the PWD rest house where the deputy CM was to attend a programme. The PTIs had taken out the protest march along with Khap representatives and other social activists.
Sajjan Sanwar, the district president of sacked PTIs, said the police had used tear gas shells which had expired in September 2016. “Used expired tear gas shells are prohibited under the law. Many protesters had faced problems and three of our PTIs were discharged from the hospital on Saturday,” he added.
However, superintendent of police Vinod Kumar said that the expired tear gas shells do not work and they were not used on the protesters. “We had used tear gas shells after some protesters tried to cross the barricade outside the PWD rest house. However, they were not expired shells,” he said.
Earlier, the SP had said that they had used water cannons and lathicharge to disperse the protesters.
Alleging that the government had taken away their employment due to the fault of the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC), the physical training instructors (PTIs) have been demanding an Ordinance to reappoint them.
The Supreme Court had set aside the recruitment of 1,983 PTIs, made in 2010 by the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government, after some irregularities were found in the recruitment process. On August 23 this year, the HSSC had conducted a fresh recruitment exam for about 7,500 candidates, who had applied against the vacancies in 2006. Most PTIs had boycotted the fresh exam that was conducted over a decade after the posts were first advertised.
The agitating PTIs have been demanding that the government should not declare the result of the fresh recruitment exam.