Leader held in contempt, but protests spread

Rajasthan high court asks Kirori Singh Bhainsla to appear before it on May 30 for breaching an undertaking given by him last year

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan high court on Tuesday issued summons to Col (retd) Kirori Singh Bhainsla, convenor of the Gurjar Reservation Action Committee, even as tension mounted in the state with the agitation spreading to new areas.

A bench of justice Prem Shankar Aasopa issued the summons to the Gurjar leader on a petition filed by the state government alleging breach of an undertaking given by him last year for maintaining law and order. The court directed Col Bhainsla to appear before it on May 30 in person or be represented by his lawyer.

Representing the state, advocate-general BP Agrawal pleaded that contempt of court proceedings be initiated against the Gurjar leader for not keeping the commitment made before the court. During a Gurjar agitation for granting ST status to the community in 2007, Col Bhainsla had given an undertaking to the court that his community members would not disrupt law and order.

The Rajasthan government has already slapped cases of murder, arson and violence against Bhainsla, 70, a retired Colonel. Asked about the contempt notice, he said “if conditions permit then I will definitely go to the court and put forward my side”.

Meanwhile, police teargassed Gurjar protesters who blocked the Delhi-Jaipur national highway as the agitation spread to Tonk and Banswara. There were no signs of an end to the standoff as Bhainsla rejected chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s letter to prime minister Manmohan Singh on Monday recommending 4-6% reservation for Gurjars in the category of denotified tribes.

Claiming the support of politicians like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan for his cause, the Gurjar leader said “a very sensitive time has arrived as the community has to now decide the course of action and events in the times to come”.

Gurjar youths put up blockades on National Highway-8 near Kotputali, 130 km from Jaipur, leading to jams on either sides of the road and queuing up of buses, police said.
In Tonk district, about 200 km from Jaipur, police used teargas against protesters who were forcing shopkeepers to down their shutters and blocking roads, superintendent of police, Giriraj Lal Meena said.

Agitators burnt tyres and effigies of the CM and state home minister Gulab Chand Kataria at Banswara district, where there were reports of some minor clashes with police. Bandhs were observed in Beawar, Mandalgarh (Bhilwara), Deedwana, Parbatsar (Nagaur), Bhiwadi (Alwar), Kota and Bundi areas.