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Dhar Road blocked in protest against teenager’s death
KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 1/16/2014 11:16:33 PM
JAMMU, Jan 16: Half-a-dozen persons including some women were injured in a clash between police and protestors after the latter jammed Dhar Road near Udhampur in protest against the death of a teenager by a rail engine.
The protestors resorted to stone-pelting while police cane-charged to restore the order and traffic on Dhar Road.
It was learnt that seventeen-year old youth Sohan Lal, resident of Sataini (Udhampur) was crushed to death by railway engine last night as he was crossing the railway track on his way to his home.
In the morning, local residents, relatives and family members of the deceased assembled at Dhar Road and staged a dharna. They jammed traffic for more than five hours and staged noisy protests. They alleged that the youth died due to the neglect of railway authorities, who did not fulfill their commitment of constructing a foot over bridge on the railway track in Sataini.
The protestors claimed that hundreds of houses have been built on the other side of the track and they have to cross the track time and again. The locals have already demanded construction of footbridge over the track so that the villagers can cross the track safely but the railway authorities turned deaf ears to their genuine demand.
The senior police officers rushed to the spot and they tried their level best to pacify the protestors assuring them to take up the issue of construction of footbridge with the railway authorities but they remained adamant. The police used mild force to restore the vehicular traffic on Dhar Road resulting in clash between the cops and protestors. The protestors started pelting stones while the cops resorted to mild cane-charge in which half a dozen protestors were injured.
However, the protestors dispersed later and traffic was restored after five hours of disruption. Huge traffic jam was witnessed on Dhar Road despite diversion of traffic by the traffic authorities.
The railway authorities claimed that the deceased was moving on the track with head phones in his ear and could not even listen to the horn of the engine driver and was crushed under it.