Ten people have been arrested in connection with the attack on policemen who went to stop a conflict between workers from Bihar at a factory in the Ambattur Industrial Estate in Chennai. The incident has raised demands for stricter monitoring of out-of-state workers who come to work in Tamil Nadu to ensure that they are provided with appropriate facilities as per the provisions of the Labor Rights Act.
Two policemen in khaki uniforms were running headlong, being chased away with iron bars in hand by youths from Bihar. A first-class policeman in uniform was also attacked and chased away in the Pattaravakkam area of Chennai.
The incident took place at a private factory called Blue Package on Pattaravakkam Road in the Ambattur Industrial Estate. More than 300 workers from Bihar were staying and working in the factory, which prepares and exports plastic barrels. On the night of October 23, the owner of the factory gave incentives to the workers for Ayudha Puja. Since the next day was a holiday, all the workers had drunk alcohol. A dispute then broke out between them regarding the room where the workers could stay.
The intoxicated workers started talking inappropriately to each other. Patrol constables Raghupathi, Rajkumar, and Wasim, who were informed of the incident, went to the factory and asked the workers why they were arguing. Some of the workers then saw a person lying inside the factory with bleeding injuries and started attacking the police with sticks and rods, thinking that it was the police who had injured him.
A mob of more than 50 workers started attacking the policemen. Rajkumar and Wasim left their two-wheeler and ran away, but the mob chased them.
The gang then started attacking Senior Constable Raghupathi, who was alone with them. Raghupathi tried to escape in his vehicle, but the Bihar workers hit him on the head and back and threw stones and other objects at the vehicle. Raghupathi sustained severe head injuries in the attack. However, he managed to escape to the police station, where he was rescued by his fellow policemen and admitted to the hospital.
The police arrested 10 people on the basis of CCTV footage and cell phone videos in connection with the incident. They have been booked under five categories of offenses, including preventing a government employee from working, indulging in drunkenness, speaking obscenities, assaulting one another, and disturbing public peace.
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