'Gujjars took bullets on their backs'

Even as Gujjar women protestors laid siege on the railway track at Bandikui in Dausa district for the third day on Wednesday, chairman, Rajasthan Gujjar Arakshan Samiti, Col KS Bainsala announced that the post mortem reports of 16 bodies conducted by the doctors on June 2 at Piloopura in Bharatpur district showed bullet wounds in the chest, heart and skull.

Col Bainsala said, "Police fired at agitators on their backs. Eleven died of bullet wounds on the chest. Five were hit in the skull. The autopsies have exposed the government's ridiculous claim that the protestors had fired on their people."

Bainsala said, "All victims were hit above the abdomen, which legally, is a crime."

Industries minister Digambar Singh had surprised many when he claimed that protesters had fired on their own people at Sikandra in Dausa district on May 24.

Spokesman of the Arakshan Samiti, Roop Singh said, "The Gujjar maha panchayat is considering filing a complaint in court to get a directive to the police to register an FIR against Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and the police."

"The police had refused to lodge an FIR against policemen who had killed our people in the May 2007 agitation. We might therefore be forced to request the court," Dr Singh said.

Dausa collector, Rajesh Yadav, said, "Women protesters have put up wooden logs on the Jaipur-Delhi rail track at Shyamlawas, three km from Bandikui railway station in Dausa, blocking train traffic for the third day."

Yadav said, "About a dozen women protesters, who tried to shut down a market in Bandikui on Tuesday, were arrested and later released on bail."

Sawaimadhopur district has also been hit owing to a stir. District collector Debashish Prutsy said, "Agitators blocked the national highway linking some parts of this district with Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh and traffic has been thrown out of gear."

Railway officials in Jaipur said, "Twenty-six trains on the Jaipur-Delhi, Jaipur-Agra route were cancelled."