Lekhnath, January 6:

Twelve people were injured when police baton-charged protesters in Kaski and Siraha districts today, reports said.

Police charged batons on people on the premises of the Kaski district court today. An injured claimed seven people were hurt.

The injured said they were in the court to attend a hearing on the case concerning Sangam KC, who was accused of killing Som Maya GC of Kalika VDC-9, Kaski.

One of the victims, Krishna Bahadur Poudel, said police resorted to lathi-charge when the victim’s family, members of Ama Samuha (Mothers’ Group) and locals demanded they be allowed to enter the courtroom. Seven persons were hurt in the incident, claimed the victims. The victims chanted slogans on the court premises, claiming KC had murdered GC.

Police also seized the vehicle used by the victims.

Seventeen-year-old GC, who was married to KC on December 5, was found dead on December 7. The District Police Office said it had urged the people flocking the district court to move elsewhere, adding that it had not not resorted to baton-charge.

Meanwhile, five students were hurt when police charged batons when they were obstructing vehicular movement on the Mahendra Highway at Lalbandhi of Siraha.

Students, including Sunita Neupane, a twelfth-grader at the Lalbandi-based Janajyoti Higher Secondary School and Mohan Tamang of the Janakpur-based Ramswaroop Ram Sagar Multiple Campus, were among those hurt. The students were demanding compensation for the family of Basanta Kiring, a eleventh-grader at the Janajyoti Higher Secondary School, who was shot dead by an unidentified gang on the bank of Budhikhola at Laxmininya-4 of Mahottari on December 13. The agitators were also demanding action against the guilty.

Superintendent of police Ganesh KC said those involved in the killing have been arrested and an investigation is going on. “We have also informed the Home Ministry about the issue of compensation,” KC said.

Issuing a statement on behalf of seven student organisations today, chairman of the Sarlahi chapter of the All Nepal National Free Students’ Union Raju Pariya condemned the baton-charge.