MH-AAREY-AAP

AAP leader seeks inquiry into police excesses during Aarey
protests
    Mumbai, Oct 9 (PTI) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader
Preeti Sharma Menon on Wednesday demanded a high-level inquiry
against senior police officers who she said lathi-charged and
assaulted activists including herself when they were
protesting against tree felling for Metro on October 4 and 5.
    Huge protests erupted in Aarey Colony area here on
the night of October 4 and on October 5 when the Mumbai Metro
Rail Corporation began to cut trees for car shed of Metro
phase 3.
    Sharma, in a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister
Devendra Fadnavis, Director General of Police S K Jaiswal and
Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Pradeep Nandrajog, alleged
that a deputy commissioner-level officer hit her and other
protesters with lathi (baton), and demanded that he should be
suspended.
    "I also demand inquiry against all the officers who
were involved in violent attacks on citizens of Mumbai," she
said.
    "Mumbai Police began slapping, shoving, pushing,
pinching, lathi-charging and dragging citizens. I reached
around midnight and was lathi-charged....this was not merely
excessive use of force but a violent attack on ordinary
citizens of India who were only trying to do their
constitutional duty to protect trees," her letter said.
    She also demanded inquiry into illegal detention of
"hundreds of citizens" including women and girls at night
during the protests. PTI APM
KRK KRK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)