Clueless cops were ill-prepared to contain protest at Delhi’s Jamia: Experts

The police on Monday admitted that they were caught “off guard” since the protesters went beyond the point, where they had to agreed to culminate the agitation, and entered residential colonies where they allegedly began vandalising public and private vehicles.

The Delhi Police not only failed to anticipate the scale of protests near Jamia Millia Islamia on Sunday but the force also looked unprepared to contain the agitators who went on a rampage, burning four public buses, vandalising over 100 private vehicles and injuring many police personnel, several serving and retired police officers said a day after the violent clashes. Experts also said the police did not have concrete intelligence or a well-planned strategy to contain the situation.

Some police officers said the situation went out of control because of instant “change in strategies” that senior officers made while handling the protest. (AP)

The police on Monday admitted that they were caught “off guard” since the protesters went beyond the point (Sarai Julena chowk), where they had to agreed to culminate the agitation, and entered residential colonies on Mata Mandir Road where they allegedly began vandalising public and private vehicles.

DCP Mandeep Singh Randhawa, Delhi Police spokesperson, said as per the understanding the police had with the Jamia students, the protest march had to go up to Sarai Julena chowk where the police had put up barricades and deployed additional personnel.

“After reaching Sarai Julena, around 150 protesters changed routes and spread to nearby residential quarters in New Friends Colony. There they pelted stones and vandalised public property after the police tried to push them back to the main protest venue. Residents started making distress calls after the agitators torched buses. We ensure that no passer by or local residents were hurt,” said Randhawa.

But Vikram Singh, former DGP of Uttar Pradesh, squarely blamed the Delhi Police for escalation of violence. He said it was a complete failure of the intelligence unit, which failed to tip-off the force about the “planning and preparedness” of the protesters. “The Delhi Police bungled up as there was complete intelligence failure on their part. They panicked after finding themselves on the wrong foot. Entering the Jamia campus was not required. And if the situation demanded it, the police should have kept women and older police personnel in the front while entering the campus. This would have a sobering impact,” said Singh.

“Instead of using force, police should have used modern technologies such as drone cameras to identify the troublemakers, who, I believe, were not students,” he added.

Some police officers said the situation went out of control because of instant “change in strategies” that senior officers made while handling the protest. About the change in strategy, a police officer said on Friday, the police had places barricades on the entry gates of the university, ensuring the students do not come out on roads to protest. As the protesters allegedly hurled tube lights, bottles, bulbs and stone at the security personnel from inside, a change in the containment strategy was made on Saturday and the security personnel were stationed with iron barricades blocking the roads near the Holy Family hospital, adjacent to the campus.

“Though nothing serious happened on Saturday, the police changed their strategy again on Sunday. This time, they stationed personnel near Sarai Julena and Sukhdev Vihar traffic intersections, giving protesters enough space to use alternative lanes to spread into residential colonies. Moreover, these sub-lanes were not being guarded,” the officer said.

But some retired officers such as former Delhi police commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma said though the police action was condemnable there was “little that the police could have done” when the protest took a violent turn. Sharma said, “ There was no option but to lathi charge to contain such a violent protest. The protesters had damaged public property and there was a fear that violence could escalate.”