A 72-year-old army veteran died on Tuesday in Gujarat after being manhandled by police.(Representational)
A retired army jawan died during the protest in Gandhinagar on Tuesday, allegedly after being manhandled by police. Later, hundreds of army jawans gathered and protested till late at night at the Gandhinagar Civil hospital where the body of the jawan had been kept.
The victim Kanji Bhai Mothalia, a 72-year-old army veteran, died on Tuesday afternoon, allegedly after the police manhandled the ex-army jawans who were agitating against the state government over their 14 pending demands.
Nima Jitendra, an ex-army man and one of the leaders of the protest while on their way to the civil hospital, told ANI, "We had a different 14 demands from the Government of Gujarat and some of them were accepted but the government has not formally announced any of those. So we restarted to protest today morning after which the state government instructed the police to start lathi charge on us during which one of our colleagues got hit on the chest and died while being treated."
He added, "Now we are going to take the dead body to the civil hospital and will enter the Sachivalay with it."
After this, hundreds of ex-army men reached the civil Hospital where the postmortem was being done and sat outside the PM room and denying to take the body of the deceased until serious action was taken against the police officer who allegedly manhandled the ex-army men including the Kanji Bhai.
One of the sons of the Kanji Bhai is said to be working with the Gujarat Police as a driver and hence, the retired Army jawans claimed that he was being pressurized to take the body and perform the final rights of his father, while the other son demanded that justice, after which he would take the body.
Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor too reached the spot and showed his support towards the retired army jawans. Later during the night, AAP leader Isudan Gadhvi and Gopal Italia too visited the agitating jawans.
Somehow the police officials convinced the family of the ex-army man and the family agreed to take the body.
Another protest leader Hitendrasinh Nimawat stated, "After the son (family) of the deceased agreed to take the body, we have nothing to say. But yes, it is very painful for us that one of us has died. But we are still going to fight for our rights and we will go to Sachivalay and keep protesting."
The postmortem has been done and the report is awaited.
The retired soldiers have been protesting at regular intervals against the state government for their long-pending demands. Some of their demands include government jobs for one member of the family of each martyr, strict implementation of reservations in state jobs from Class 1 to 4 for retired defence personnel, martyrs' memorial in Gandhinagar, agricultural land for retired Army personnel as per rules, priority while issuing or renewing a gun licence, and removal of contract system in jobs offered to former defence personnel.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)