Two days after alternative routes leading to the district court complex were sealed in the wake of the blast, cops on Wednesday blocked all passages leading to the police commissioner’s office from the deputy commissioner’s office.
While senior officials remained tight-lipped about the development, an official, privy to the matter, on condition of anonymity, said the passages had been sealed after receiving “certain intelligence inputs.”
The blockage of certain routes left several citizens disgruntled, and they could be seen arguing with cops. “Please enter from the main door near the CIA staff office. We have orders not to allow anybody to enter from here,” a cop, deployed near one of the barricades, was heard reasoning with a displeased local.
Pathways blocked to stop protesters: SAD
Alleging that the routes had been blocked to stop protesters from entering, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Maheshinder Singh Grewal said the cops were merely using “security threat” as an excuse.
“It is citizen’s democratic right to protest. With the law-and-order situation in a shambles, people are trying to reach out to the top cop seeking redressal of their grievances. However, now entrances to the commissioner’s office have been plugged,” Grewal said.
{{/usCountry}}“It is citizen’s democratic right to protest. With the law-and-order situation in a shambles, people are trying to reach out to the top cop seeking redressal of their grievances. However, now entrances to the commissioner’s office have been plugged,” Grewal said.
{{/usCountry}}Staffers strike adds to confusion
Some visitors complained that the excise and taxation department and government treasury were also located in the same building, but cops were not letting anybody enter, claiming that the staff was on strike, and the departments were closed.
Gursewak Singh, a resident of BRS Nagar, who was headed to the excise taxation department, said, “First the cops asked me to visit from the main door, which was a mile away, the cop sitting at the entrance told me that I could not visit since the department was closed due to a strike. I told him that I was to visit an official, but he refused to hear me out.”
District court complex fortified
On December 27, the passage and the main door of regional transport office (RTO), which led to the district court complex, were sealed. The door was primarily used to present persons facing trial under Sections 107 (which pertains to the powers vested with an executive magistrate who may order detaining a person, he thinks, could commit a breach of peace or disturb the public tranquillity), and 151 (prevention of commission of cognizable offences) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
A notice was pasted on the wall redirecting litigants to appear from the main door of the police commissioner’s office. The door leading from the district excise and taxation department towards the district court complex was also sealed. It was primarily used by excise and taxation lawyers.
People are only being allowed to enter the district complex from the main door of the deputy commissioner’s office where a door frame metal detector has been installed.