A 48-year-old protestor was found hanging on a roadside tree on Tuesday morning in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur, where people of Saini, Mali, Maurya, Shakya and Kushwaha communities have been blocking the Jaipur-Agra national highway-21 for the last five days seeking 12% reservation in education and government jobs, police said.
The deceased has been identified as Mohan Singh Saini, a native of Lalita Gandhar under Halena police station. Police said that they have sent the body to the Raj Bahadur Memorial hospital for post-mortem.
They said that they have recovered a suicide note from the deceased, in which he said, ‘’Jyotiba Phule jindabad, 12% Aarakshan lekar rahenge (Long live Jyotiba Phule, will take 12% reservation)’.
“My husband was a labourer and the only breadwinner in the family. We have a 25-year-old daughter and a 22-year-old son,” said his wife Amra Devi. Saini had been participating in the protest since April 21. “He came home for dinner late at night from the protest venue but went back again,” Devi said.
Anjali Saini, a member of the Phule Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, said that it was a case of suicide. “He was disappointed and had threatened to sacrifice his life for the community over the reservation demand,” she said.
Chatar Singh Saini, councillor of Municipal Corporation’s ward number-22 echoed a similar line and demanded ₹1 crore and government jobs for the family of the deceased.
Vishambhar Singh, the station house officer (SHO) of Lakhanpur, said police teams have been deployed near the protest venue.
Meanwhile, a 15-member committee of Phule Arakashan Sangharsh Samiti has gone to Jaipur to talk with chief minister Ashok Gehlot over the demand of reservation.
Earlier on Friday, their stir had turned violent after some protestors started pelting stones at cops in village Ramaspur under police station Weir, where police also used tear gas to control the protesters.
Police preventively arrested Murari Lal Saini, convener of the Phule Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti and some others on Thursday. They were released on Sunday.
