Delhi Police defends 45-station metro curbs, tells SC it complied with directives
NEW DELHI: Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar on Thursday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying permission for Oct 10 CJP protest at Jantar Manor was denied due to past experience of large-scale violence during its July 20 protests, inability of organisers to control supporters and the grave inconvenience caused to general public because of string of protests from Oct 6-8 that choked the central Delhi for days together.Narrating the sensitivity of central Delhi housing Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament, Supreme Court, embassies and other institutions requiring a complex security arrangement as well as measures for maintaining public order, the police commissioner said, “No police administration can permit any breach of public order in the national capital, particularly when a call is given by an organisation with a recent history of mob violence, and incidents resulting in injuries to several individuals and the subsequent events of Oct 6, 7,8.
”“Due to all these marches, the central Delhi areas got completely choked and there were huge traffic snarls for long hours, resulting in students and innocent citizens getting stuck in traffic jams, resulting in them missing their trains, airlines etc,” he said.“The gatherings were very aggressive, fuelled by persons adoring cover of ‘freelance journalism’, who were physically harassing policemen, some miscreants were misbehaving with lady police personnel resulting gin injuries to over a dozen police personnel,” he said on the Oct 10 protest which was called despite denial of permission and attempts to illegally gather people.
As per the SC laid down law, the Police removed the illegally gathered people from the site where prohibitory orders were in place but those detained punctured the tyres of the buses in which they were kept and broke window shields in acts of violence, the commissioner said.
CJP did not seek permission for holding protest on Oct 10 but merely sent an intimation to the police, the CP said, adding that preventive measures were taken in view of intelligence inputs that despite denial of permission, people would attempt to gather at Jantar Mantar on Oct 10 to create a dangerous situation and cause serious public order problem.All those detained for attempting to protest in violation of prohibitory orders were released after a few hours and were kept in make-shift centres, not police lock ups. Police provided them with hot, fresh and good meals and were permitted to leave after the requirement of detention ceased to exist, he said.The political leaders removed from illegal protest were requested to sit in the chambers of SHOs and were provided with tea, coffee, meals and other refreshments while fully maintaining the dignity of the office they held or holding, the CP said.