Baton charge

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Baton Charge is a tactic undertaken essentially by the Police or some times by other Law Enforcement Agencies to clear a crowd of people from a specific location. This is done after all peaceful means for dispersing a crowd have been exhausted.

The police are provided with batons, with which they hit the people and the pain caused would make them to move away from the scene. As a general practice, during baton charges the police concentrate more on people moving/standing as a group. Individuals are allowed to run away.

In India the Hindi term for a baton is Lathi. A Lathi used by some police forces are around 5 ft in length, while in some states it is of a lesser size. The usage Lathi charge is used more by the Indian media, more than Baton charge. In addition to the lathi, the policemen also are provided with Riot gear like helmets, shields, shin guards etc.

The Lathi drill which is taught to all Indian Police recruits, have been quite controversial when considering it from a human rights angle. The drill teaches the police recruit to use the lathi to cause maximum amount of injury to the victim (head or shoulder bones, is targeted first).

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