Jalna: A protest for Maratha reservation in the Jalna district of central Maharashtra turned violent on Friday leading to several people including 38 police personnel getting injured, officials said.

Police used baton-charge and fired teargas shells to disperse a violent mob at Antarwali Sarathi village on Dhule-Solapur road in Ambad tehsil. Villagers also claimed that police fired some rounds in the air, but officials did not confirm it.

The protesters, led by Manoj Jarange, had been staging a hunger strike demanding reservation for the Maratha community at the village since Tuesday. The trouble began when police tried to shift Jarange to hospital on doctors' advice, officials said. While Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made an appeal for peace and announced that a committee will be set up for a high-level probe into the violence, deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed that the police were forced to use baton-charge due to stone pelting. The reservation provided by the state government for the politically dominant Maratha community was quashed by the Supreme Court earlier. The agitation turned violent on Friday as some persons targeted state transport buses and private vehicles, police said. While Fadnavis put the number of injured policemen at 12, Jalna district Superintendent of Police Tushar Doshi said late at night that 32 police personnel and six officials were injured in stone pelting.

Those who suffered serious injuries were under treatment at Jalna Civil Hospital, he said.

Among the injured, there were two Deputy Superintendents of Police and five women police personnel, he said.

"The vehicle of Chandanzira police station was set ablaze. Private vehicles of policemen were also burnt. According to primary report, fifteen state transport buses were set on fire," Doshi said.

A State Reserve Police Force company and police personnel from nearby districts are deployed in the area to maintain peace, he said. At least 20 protesters were injured in baton-charge, police sources said. The chief minister had spoken to the protesters on Wednesday, urging them to end the hunger strike, but they refused to relent, officials said.

On Thursday, shops and other commercial establishments at Wadigodri village in Ambad tehsil had remained closed, while there was a massive protest gathering at Shahgadh earlier in the week. Speaking to a regional news channel, chief minister Shinde said the state government was committed to provide reservation to the Maratha community, and nobody should resort to violence.

“The state government is taking some steps to give reservation to the community. During Devendra Fadnavis's tenure as chief minister, the state government had given reservation to the Maratha community but the Supreme Court quashed it,” he said. “I do not want to go into the politics of it because it was not properly followed up. However, the state government is taking this issue seriously and we will welcome it if there are any suggestions. I appeal to the protesters to maintain peace so that the common people do not suffer,” he said. A committee will be set up for a high-level probe into the violence, Shinde announced. Congress leader Ashok Chavan demanded that the state government make clear its stand on Maratha reservation. The baton-charge by police at Antarwali Sarathi village was unacceptable, the former chief minister added.

The Shiv Sena-BJP government must state what steps it is going to take to provide reservation to the community, Chavan said. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve too condemned the use of force by police and demanded that Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis state on whose orders police resorted to baton-charge. Speaking to a news channel, Fadnavis said that some of the protesters surrounded the police who had gone to talk to them. They encircled the person who was sitting on hunger strike and obstructed the police from shifting him to hospital, he said, adding,

“the government cannot allow a person's life to be put in peril.”

“The police then resorted to baton-charge in such a way that nobody would get seriously injured. The situation would have worsened had the police not used tear gas and baton-charge,” the home minister claimed.

“The state government is sensitive towards the demands of the Maratha community. We all know why reservations could not stand the Supreme Court's scrutiny and what happened during the previous government's tenure. I appeal to the protesters not to take law in their hands,” he added. NCP working president Supriya Sule asked if Maharashtra has democracy or autocracy.

"It is shocking the way police brutally beat up the youth. There should be an enquiry," she told reporters. Targeting Fadnavis, the Baramati MP said it was his department's failure. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, accused the government of crushing the protest with lathis (batons). "We condemn this government-sponsored act. They should apologise to the Maratha community and immediate action should be taken against the police officers who ordered baton-charge," he said. A written assurance about what concrete steps the government is taking for providing reservations should be given to the Maratha community, the Congress leader said.

PTI