Army jawans clash with police in Karwar, mob torches vehicle

A jeep belonging to the Indian Navy was set on fire by an irate mob protesting against the “bullying tactics” of a group of Army jawans, who had assaulted ten persons including police and railway officials at the Shirwada Railway Station in Karwar in coastal Karnataka on Wednesday evening.

Police said trouble began soon after 45 jawans belonging to the Gurkha Regiment arrived at the railway station to catch a train to Mangalore after completing their month-long training programme at Karwar Naval base.

When a railway police constable spotted a jawan smoking, he went up to him and warned him against smoking on the railway platform, triggering a row between the railway officials and the jawans. The railway constable was thrashed by the jawans. But, railway officials and passengers rushed to the rescue of the railway constable.

During the fracas, the train arrived at the platform, but the jawans, who were involved in a fracas with the railway police, pulled the chain and detained the train. Soon, police from Karwar arrived at the railway station and began holding discussions with railway police and jawans to defuse the tense situation.

But, the jawans assaulted several policemen including Karwar Rural Inspector Vinay Naik and Sub Inspector Vasanth Acharya with a knife. Many railway staff and passengers were also injured in the melee, police said.

With the situation showing signs of turning worse, additional police force too arrived at the railway station. The detained train was allowed to proceed and the army jawans were taken to a room. Soon, senior officials including Deputy Commissioner of Karwar Ritesh Kumar Singh, Superintendent of Police Tavargi, senior officials from Karwar Naval Base and Konkan Railway officials arrived at the railway station and began holding talks.

When the senior officials decided to take the army jawans to the naval base, hundreds of locals, who had gathered at the railway station were enraged. They demanded that the army jawans be handed over to them. Several agitated youth were heard shouting that they wanted to teach the jawans a lesson.

But, the police ignored the protestors and began taking them towards a vehicle belonging to the Karwar Naval base. The agitated mob began pelting stones at the army vehicles, forcing the police to resort to caning. But, the angry mob set fire to the vehicle belonging to Navy and staged a road blockade. The police had to fire five rounds in the air to quell the mob fury and take the army jawans safely to the Naval Base.