That Black Day

The Setting

Monday, June 9, 2014. Life had been moving in its own pace. There had been a sort of tranquility. But it had not been destined to last long. The tranquility had just been an illusion. Some students studying Post-Graduate in Micro-biology at Tri-Chandra College had called out a strike at 1:00 pm. That had when the darkness unveiled itself.

The day had been bright, sky clear-except for some spots of clouds. The strike had been called for an hour which meant no vehicle would be allowed to pass through that route for an hour. People would have to face problems. Meanwhile, within five minutes of the call of the strike, some cadets of Nepal Police had entered the Campus premises and had started beating up students. Some of them were taken on to the now desolated road and keeping them ahead, the callers of the strike were attacked. There was a sort of war between both the sides. Students hurled bricks and stones at the Police and the Police charged at them. Had only the strike-callers been arrested, the matter would have been different, but whatever happened next was a sort of madness- an absolute insanity!

The Riot

While hurling at the strike-callers, the Police entered the College premises- first the Saraswoti Sadan wing and sorted out Micro-biology students. They were taken out from classrooms, laboratories and libraries and made to kneel down on the ground. Some of them were beaten up for having dusty hands. The Police had entered Peace Zone without permission and beaten up unconcerned students. I call them unconcerned and innocent because they did not even know that a strike had been called up. The students who were nagged out of the classrooms were Graduate level students. The Police had blindly striked at some students which had made almost made them unconscious.

Not only the students of Micro-biology but those of other faculties had also been terrorized. The Department of Geology at Ghantaghar wing too had been attacked. The students in the laboratory were beaten up by the Police without any concern or hearing. Many of the students who had been attacked by the Police were even taken into custody. Some of them were tortured there as well. All the arrested students were left by ten-thirty in the evening. The amount of physical and psychological tortured they had to face is indescribable.

The Conclusion

The number of students injured was about 200 of which a dozen were seriously wounded. The Police promised to provide compensation for the injured ones. I don't know if they apologized for the sort of insanity they showed but the students too are not willing to take any further action- they are studying in the College to secure their career, not to fight with the police. The issue, however, did not catch media attention. A few off-steam TV channels and a few online newspapers provided some news. In spite of of such a violent Police action at the heart of Kathmandu, the amount of priority given to the news was nominal. After the mini-riot ended, I had a very bad feeling, "If such a large group can be suppressed in the heart of capital Democratic Republic country, what might have happened to the people at rural areas during insurgency?"
After ten days, the thought still brings chills to my heart.*

* The above description is a true event and not a fiction. It is based on my talks with some of the victimized students. I had witnessed the aftermaths of the riot. The news story is available at :http://www.onlinekhabar.com/2014/06/208812/