Was the death of three farmers — including a woman — in Tuesday's police firing a result of crowd mismanagement by the Pune police?

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Could this loss of human lives not be prevented knowing fully well that the protest rasta roko had to be contained as it was happening on the sensitive Mumbai-Pune Expressway?

The rasta roko was not spontaneous but pre-planned by the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and some political parties who are opposed to the closed water pipeline project from the Pawana dam to the NCP-controlled Pimpri-Chinchwad township. Farmers feel that this project would affect water availability for agriculture.

Pune’s superintendent of police (rural), Sandeep Karnik has justified the police firing by stating that the first bullet was fired in the air when a protestor was seen attacking an injured policeman with a stone. The mob was armed with nothing more than stones and yet all the three persons killed in the police firing bear bullet injuries on the chest, head and neck. Whatever happened to firing below the waist as the first level of response after firing in the air, during riot control operations?

Considering that the protest was happening on the expressway, it was necessary for the police to be present in full strength to prevent any eventuality.

Karnik has admitted that the police was deployed in adequate numbers in Maval tehsil but was at its thinnest with just about 20 men when the mob turned violent against the police. This was when they fired in self-defence.

This justification is weak as it indicates an error of judgment and adds to the statistic of protesting farmers killed in police firing. The Opposition is justified in demanding a judicial inquiry into the incident to ascertain whether the tragedy could have been averted. 

Protests are a natural right in a democracy and the government or its institutions cannot be allowed to suppress the people's voice in a totalitarian manner.