Gangtok Boys battered on soccer field

The students, who were beaten up, at the Sadar police station on Wednesday and (below) MD Sadam who was punched on the nose.

Gangtok, Aug. 6: A friendly football match between SSB jawans and students of a local school yesterday turned into a free-for-all between the players and supporters of the paramilitary team, leaving at least seven boys with bruises and bloodied nose.

The SSB posted in the state were playing the quarter-final match against the students of Tashi Namgyal Senior Secondary School on the grounds of West Point to mark the host institution’s golden jubilee celebrations.

According to those watching the match, all was well till the second half when the SSB was awarded a free-kick that yielded a goal taking the score to 3-1 in favour of the jawans.

“The players of our school protested as one of our students was injured and was still lying on the ground when the referee blew the whistle for the free-kick. There was an argument, but the jawans were adamant and began shoving and pushing around our team members. At this, supporters of both sides began fighting,” said a witness.

B.D. Chhetri, a teacher of the Tashi Namgyal school, was also not spared. “I ran into the field to pacify the two sides but I was also given a beating and the jawans alleged that I had incited the students,” Chhetri said.

Seven students were treated for their injuries at Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial Hospital. They are Kasam Sherpa, Sonam Tseten, M.D. Sadam, Aditya Chhetri, Tseten Lepcha, Sonam Palden and Paras Baraily. Except for Tseten who is a Class IX student, all others are from Class X.

The injured teacher and the students alleged that following the refereeing dispute, SSB jawans in the gallery cheering their team had rushed down and mercilessly beat them up. “Those who were supposed to be our protectors, hammered us with their fists and kicked us with their heavy boots and lathis even when we were fleeing. Some of the injured ran away home bleeding,” a student said.

Cops from the Sadar police station soon arrived and brought the situation under control. “We have registered a case against unknown persons for causing the violence and an investigation is on,” said Tshering Sherpa, the officer-in-charge of the police station.

The principal of West Point, the host school, M. Subba, said the organising committee of the football tournament would be meeting later today to decide on the fate of the match.

In a media statement today, the office of the adjutant of 24 Battalion of the SSB stationed in Gangtok refuted the charges and alleged that the students were the ones to attack first. “When the SSB took the lead the students had been misbehaving both in and outside the field (sic). They threw stones and attacked the SSB players with poles uprooted from shelter created for the players on the edge of the ground, some of the jawans were injured and treated at the hospital,” the statement read.

Gangtok Football field disintegrates into a battlefield

TNHSS students hammered black & blue by SSB jawans

GANGTOK, August 5: The West Point school ground, popularly known as Guards Ground, today turned into a battlefield with the supporters of two football teams protesting their way into a bloody encounter that left several students battered and bruised.
The ‘wrestlemania’ took place today afternoon during the quarterfinal match between ‘TNites’, a team cobbled by the students of TNHSS and the football team of Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB), a paramilitary force deputed in Sikkim.
The match was the second quarterfinal game of the West Point Golden Jubilee football tournament which had commenced recently.
According to the students, the match was going well until the second half where a dispute crept over a decision by the referee. It is informed that the school team protested over the decision which then snowballed into an open confrontation between the supporters of both the teams.
Judging by the bruises, bloody noses and a possible hand fracture that the students suffered as the accompanying pictures show, it is to realize that which team emerged victorious from the scrape and which came second best.
At least seven students and one teacher of TNHSS sustained injurious in the beating from the hands of the SSB jawans. The students were treated at STNM hospital and discharged after first aid.
The injured students were Kasam Sherpa (Class XII) and MD Sadam (Class X), Sonam Tseten (Class X), Aditya Chettri (Class X), Tseten Lepcha (Class IX), Sonam Palden (Class X) and Paras Baraily (Class X).
The injury toll of the students is more as many students stamped all over by the SSB did not report to the hospital for treatment. Many of them simply ran away to their homes with their injuries, the injured students said.
Those savages did not even spare the school teacher, the terrified students said to media referring to their teacher DB Chettri who also took some beating. I had gone to field to control the situation but I was beaten up by the jawans who accused me of inciting the students, the injured teacher said.
The injured teacher and students told media that when the game disintegrated following a refereeing decision, the SSB jawans from the spectators’ galleries rushed to the field leading to the assault.
They came with bamboo sticks and rods and hammered us even as we were fleeing, accused the students. They also kicked us with their heavy boots, said the injured students to media.
Gangtok Sadar Police quickly intervened to control the situation before matters went out of hand and hauled both sides to the police station. The police were taking inputs from both sides till late in the evening to proceed ahead with the matter in the best possible manner keeping in the view that it was students and paramilitary jawans involved in the matter

Former top J&K cop takes over SSB

New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) : Former Jammu and Kashmir police director general Gopal Sharma Monday took charge of the central paramilitary force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guards the Indo-Nepal border, from his predecessor Tilak Kak who retired Sunday.
Sharma, a 1972 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) official from the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) cadre, was the director general of J&K police for four years before he became security adviser to the chief minister.
He has held several key positions in the state police force.
After taking over at the SSB headquarters in the capital Sharma said training of jawans and patrolling at the borders will be among his top priorities.
'Our primary focus will be on efficacy and expert training of personnel. Patrolling on border areas will also be given importance,' Sharma told reporters.
SSB, which has the primary task of preventing trans-border crime and unauthorised entry into or exit from India, guards the 1,751-km Indo-Nepal border along the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim.
The paramilitary force also patrols the 669-km Indo-Bhutan border along the states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

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