Delhi Police to maintain tight security today amid calls for day 2 of Jantar Mantar protest against CEC

The Supreme Court will hear a plea alleging authorities violated its order against a complete shutdown of metro and train services.

Delhi Police will keep central Delhi sealed on Sunday, holding Jantar Mantar shut, barricading the Capital’s borders and diverting traffic at 30 points, as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) vowed to march again a day after an estimated 7,000 people were detained, and the Supreme Court prepared to hear a plea accusing the authorities of defying its order against a complete shutdown of metro and train services.

On Sunday, police will try to stop protesters from converging on Jantar Mantar and from entering the New Delhi district. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde, who was designated by the group as holding the reins after its leader Abhijeet Dipke was taken into custody, said the movement would not back down, would try to reach Jantar Mantar again on Sunday and would stay put until its demands were met. “The government thought we would back down after the detention of Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. But we won’t. We will continue our agitation till Gyanesh Kumar resigns,” Shinde said.

Shinde also said he had not been able to contact them since their detention. A police officer, who did not wish to be named, said they were taken separately to locations in Najafgarh and Gurugram.

Opposition parties announced their own protest for Monday, when top leaders of the INDIA bloc will march to the Supreme Court to urge it to expedite all cases related to the SIR and the Election Commission. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who was detained on Saturday during a silent protest outside party MP Abhishek Banerjee’s residence on South Avenue and taken to Dwarka in a prison van, said Rahul Gandhi had asked her to stay in Delhi for it.

“Mr. Modi, do whatever you want. Call out all the police: 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, whatever you want. Arrest all the leaders. Arrest all the young people. Arrest us all. We are surrounding you, and we are not going to back down,” said Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the government had turned the “Mother of Democracy” into a “Muzzled Democracy”.

On Sunday, police will try to stop protesters from converging on Jantar Mantar and from entering the New Delhi district, and will regulate movement on key roads according to the situation on the ground, officials said, adding that police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel would stay deployed until the situation eased. More than 40,000 of them were on duty on Saturday, including 26,000 reinforcements, the largest deployment in the city since February 2020.

Jantar Mantar, the intended site of Saturday’s demonstration, remained sealed, with even journalists barred, while loudspeakers at three entry and exit points broadcast warnings in Hindi and English. Announcements against gatherings, processions and road blockades under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita will continue at key locations until further orders, officials said.

Supreme Court to hear contempt plea

A Supreme Court bench of justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana will hear a contempt plea filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi, which names Union home secretary Govind Mohan, Delhi Police commissioner Anurag Kumar and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) chairperson D Thara as respondents. The plea accuses them of “blatant violation” of the court’s October 9 direction that there be no complete prohibition on metro and train services, an order in which the court had remarked that “you will not use a hammer to kill a fly”, after which the DMRC kept 45 of the 57 stations it had planned to close shut.

At the borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, police have put up two tiers of barricades at Chilla, Ghazipur, Apsara and Singhu, and paramilitary personnel and local police will continue to man the crossings.

Transport restrictions and traffic diversions

The metro and rail curbs, though, are being lifted. The DMRC said in a post around 10pm the entry and exit gates of all metro stations were open again, and neither the DMRC nor the Delhi government’s excise department had received any request from Delhi Police to close metro stations or liquor shops on Sunday as of Saturday.

Northern Railway’s chief public relations officer said the rail restrictions applied only until Saturday.

On the roads, Delhi Traffic Police will divert vehicles from 6am “depending upon prevailing situation” at the same 30 points as on Saturday, from Dhaula Kuan and Jhandewalan to Mandi House, Connaught Place’s Outer Circle and Lodhi Road. It has asked people to avoid non-essential travel and to allow extra time for journeys to railway stations, inter-state bus terminals and the airport through central Delhi.

Some protesters have stayed on in the Capital, waiting for word from the CJP. “I will come again tomorrow morning. There is going to be a protest at Jantar Mantar. We are waiting for a call from CJP,” said Afzal, a resident of Seelampur.