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96 arrested in temple violence; police station holds court and sends all of them to jail in 5 buses
In the first information report (FIR) filed at Govindpuri police station late Wednesday night, the police noted that over 4,000 protesters, carrying sticks and rods, were led from Ramlila Maidan to Tughlaqabad by Azad and a host of other leaders.
As many as 96 people, including Chandrashekhar Azad, the chief of the Bhim Army, were arrested on Wednesday a day after thousands of protesters tried to storm the site of a demolished Guru Ravidas temple in Tughlaqabad, clashed with the police and vandalised several police and private vehicles in the south Delhi neighbourhood.
The clashes on Wednesday evening left 34 police personnel injured, including the station house officer of Jaitpur police station. The officer has received eight stitches to his head. The DCP said some protesters too were injured in the clashes, but did not share their number.
The protesters were caught on tape using sticks, batons and iron rods as they went about attacking the police and the public and vandalising government as well as private vehicles. While local residents alleged that more than 100 cars were vandalised by the protesters, the police said they had no count of these damages. Police said three police vans, three DTC buses were vandalised by the mob and a police motorcycle was set afire.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on August 10 demolished the Ravidas temple in Tughlaqabad village in order on a Supreme Court order. Thousands of members of Dalit groups from across the country had thronged the Ramlila Maidan in central Delhi for a massive rally. They started marching towards the site of the demolished temple after the rally.
The arrested protesters included 55 from Haryana, 23 from Punjab, 11 from Uttar Pradesh, three each from Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, and one from Jammu. They are all adult men, said the DCP.
Given the logistical challenges in tending to such a large number of arrested people, the police requested the metropolitan magistrate to hold court at the Kalkaji police station which has a large courtyard.
“After the hearing, all the 96 people were packed in five buses and sent to jail,” said Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (south-east).
Anil Mittal, additional spokesperson of the Delhi Police, said, “In the past, we have detained large number of people during protests. This time the detained people were arrested because of their involvement in arson and violence,” said Mittal.
In the first information report (FIR) filed at Govindpuri police station late Wednesday night, the police noted that over 4,000 protesters, carrying sticks and rods, were led from Ramlila Maidan to Tughlaqabad by Azad and a host of other leaders. “They were chanting anti-establishment and anti-government slogans and against the judiciary and the Supreme Court...The slogans were causing public annoyance,” the FIR read.
The agitators began assaulting the police when they were stopped from breaking through the police cordon and barricades to attempt a march to the site of the demolished temple, the FIR said.
“The leaders were instigating them to break the police cordon and barricades,” the FIR reads.
“When our repeated warnings had no impact, and finding no alternative, police force was asked to use minimum required mild force, including tear gas...” The police said 29 tear gas shells were used to disperse the rioters.
In the police crackdown that followed, 96 people were first detained and then arrested. The DCP said the arrested men included a CRPF constable who was carrying a pistol. “He has claimed that it is a licensed weapon, but we are yet to verify that,” said the DCP.
On Wednesday night, the police had kept the 96 detained men at the Kalkaji, New Friends Colony and Lajpat Nagar police stations, said the DCP, adding that different police teams were formed to take the arrested men for medical examination and arrange food for them.
On Thursday afternoon, they were all brought to the courtyard of Kalkaji police station where a metropolitan magistrate from the Saket district court held a court session for two hours, said the DCP.
The sections under which the arrested agitators have been booked under include attempt to commit culpable homicide and the arms act. The DCP said that the 16 legal sections under which the FIR has been registered applies to all the arrested men.
The Bhim Army did not release any statement after the arrest of its chief. HT contacted its UP and Delhi based activists but there was no response.
Ashok Bharti, the convenor of Akhil Bhartiya Sant Shiromani Guru Ravidas Mandir Sanyukt Sanrakshan Samiti, told PTI that the Dalit body had given a call for a peaceful protest at Ramlila Maidan, but some people decided to proceed to the disputed site.
“Those who marched to the site of the temple include spiritual leaders who were also baton-charged by police. We condemn the violence, but people should know it was the police that used force against the protesters first,” he claimed.
On Thursday, tension prevailed in the south Delhi neighbourhood, but no untoward incident was reported. Around 60 Central Reserve Police personnel and several police officials have been deployed in the area.