Unease outside Delhi's Bangla Sahib gurdwara as cops ‘drag’, detain protesters

Gurdwara staff said police were not permitted inside, while Delhi Police said they detained 50-60 protesters who came out of the premises.

Hundreds of protesters shut out of Jantar Mantar spent Saturday sheltering in Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, near the Election Commission of India (ECI) office, as police waited outside and detained those who left. Gurdwara staff said police were not allowed inside, although some accounts described an initial entry by some policemen.

Students said they planned to remain at the gurdwara overnight and await CJP instructions for the next phase of the protest. (PTI)

Kamaljeet Singh, a pilgrim from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh who has been staying at the gurdwara with his wife for two to three days, said 1,000-2,000 student protesters had arrived since Friday night.

“Early in the morning, around 8am, police came to detain them, but the management did not allow them to enter the gurdwara. Some police personnel entered the premises near the main gate and dragged some students out, but the management firmly asked the police to leave and not enter the premises of the gurdwara,” he said.

Police later urged the management to send the protesters out, Singh said, but “the management refused to do so”. Around 150-200 students were detained outside the gurdwara, he said.

“Police are not allowed inside. Anyone who comes inside the gurdwara is a visitor to us. Police can come only when there is a serious criminal incident, but these are students who have come to protest, which is their right. The police cannot force them out; they are not criminals. They just want to avoid detention. They are peacefully sitting here, sleeping and eating,” a staff member of the gurdwara management said, asking not to be named.

Police and witnesses differ over entry into gurdwara

Police gave a different account. They said they had found that protesters had stayed the night at the gurdwara, reached the area around 9am and detained 50-60 people who left.

Around 12.30pm, forces almost entered the gurdwara after a few protesters who had left tried to get back in to escape the police. The men were dragged away and detained, according to two witnesses. Police kept barricades around the area through the day to detain protesters.

“Any person who goes outside in a group is being detained. I have been here since last night, and there were many others with me. Some of them tried to go outside and were detained,” said Yash Sain, who came from Agra for the protest.

Delhi Police rejects allegations over gurdwara entry

In a post on X, Delhi Police said, “Regarding the video circulated on social media, alleging entry by police staff in Gurdwara Bangla Sahib... some police staff is shown walking in the common passage, used by all devotees to reach the point where shoes are taken off to enter the Gurdwara. The process is the same for all; the video showing the same is attached. The video has been circulated deliberately with malicious intent, to outrage the feelings of a respectable religious community and is prejudicial to the religious harmony. Legal action is being initiated.”

Police also detained protesters who tried escaping towards Gole Market.

Anuradha Mewara, a doctor from Rajasthan, was among those detained outside. “I came from Rajasthan to participate in the protest and demand the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar. I was detained outside the gurdwara. They made us go around in a bus and dropped us near the Red Fort,” she said.

Some students said 30-40 of them would stay the night at the gurdwara and wait for the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP’s) instructions for a protest on Sunday. The CJP has since announced its plans to stay the course and attempt to reach Jantar Mantar.