Tripura: Over 20 students injured after police lathi-charge on a rally demanding Roman script for kokborok

More than 20 student agitators of Tipra Indigenous Students Federation (TISF), the student wing of TIPRA Motha, were injured after police personnel charged lathi and used water cannon on them during a rally demanding Roman Script for the Kokborok language in the state's Agartala.

Kokborok, the lingua franca of the indigenous community of Tripura, is spoken by nearly one-third of the state's population.

The rally was organized demanding the Roman script for the Kokborok language which started from Vivekananda Maidan and was supposed to hold a dharna in front of the Governor's House. However, the security forces have prevented the rally near Circuit House where the student wing held demonstrations.

Speaking about the matter, Executive Member of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) Runeil Debbarma told India Today NE that more than 12 students including some female students were injured during the peaceful rally of the Tipra Indigenous Students Federation.

“Today we held a peaceful rally demanding Roman script for the Kokborok language. The rally started at around 10 AM and continued till 4 PM. But suddenly after 4 PM somebody threw a beer bottle on the rally but later police has resorted to lathi charge, bursting tear cell and used water cannon on the rally”, said Runiel.

He also said that many student agitators were injured and alleged that the male police personnel charged lathi on the female agitators.

“More than 20 persons were injured while conditions of 4 are serious. They are now undergoing treatment at GB Pant Hospital. Police however didn’t give any warning to us”, said the TIPRA Motha leader.

He further threatened that they would launch a Civil Disobedience protest in the state protesting the attack on the peaceful rally.

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