Where was its well-trained paramilitary force ~ India Reserve Battalion?
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: While the Goa police gave a poor account of their handling of yesterday’s clash between police-locals and Nigerians, personnel of the India Reserve Battalion, which is a paramilitary force well-trained in handling mobs, were conspicuous by their absence.
The reason: They were reportedly wasted on guard duty at some of the politicians’ and senior police officers’ houses instead of being on site where their services were badly needed to save the day for Goa police.
There were hardly any IRB personnel seen around.
Further, neither water cannons and tear gas were available nor crowd control measures in place. With Nigerians outnumbering the police personnel at O’Coqueiro junction where the riot took place, the department after a delay summoned personnel from nearby police stations and reserved force. Interestingly, many were reportedly untrained to control furious crowd or handle such tensed situation.
More so, the personnel had risked their lives as they were ill-equipped. Herald witnessed that not only the personnel but the higher-ups as well did not have protective riot gear ~ shields, head gear, chest guard and shin guards which are must during such incidents. They just had lathis. The chest guard was made available after more than three hours after trouble started.
Meanwhile, sources said the IPS officers and Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sabaji Shetye had ordered lathi charge when the situation began worsening but the other officers refused. In what could be yet another lapse on the part of the police was that there was no coordination between senior officers and personnel on the field. There were also instances when the Nigerians were going berserk at the police stations but the senior officers just watched the ‘tamasha’ while
the lower rank officials struggled to control their aggressiveness.
