Gadchiroli (Maharashtra):
In an unprecedented turn of events, as many as 29 Police Patils - citizens deployed to assist the police - from Korchi tehsil of Gadhchiroli quit their posts on Wednesday in protest against alleged police atrocities. And an additional 21 Police Patils are expected to resign today.
The resignations came after 61-year-old Police Patil, Ballu Hidani, was allegedly beaten up by commandos from the anti-Maoist police force C60 on the suspicion of being a Naxal sympathiser.
"The police hit me. They doubted me as a Naxal supporter and beat me up quite badly," said Mr Hidani.
Over 160 members of 25 gram panchayats too have quit in this Naxal-infested district of eastern Maharashtra.
The Police Patils submitted their resignation letters to the Desaiganj Sub-Divisional Officer Durvesh Sonwane last afternoon. "I have received the resignation letters but not sanctioned them so far," he told PTI.
Efforts by the local authorities to convince them to withdraw their resignations have till now failed.
District MLA Namdeo Usendi has said that he will raise the issue in the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Assembly through a calling attention motion and seek measures by the government to stop the growing trend of resignations by public representatives.
These Police Patils are the police's eyes and ears in these areas; they get crucial information about the Naxal activities from them. So, the administration fears these resignations will paralyse the local governance in the area - which is the hotbed of Naxal activities.