Protests give cops sleepless nights

Apart from regular crimes, dharnas and protests kept the Delhi Police on their toes last year.

Apart from regular crimes, dharnas and protests kept the Delhi Police on their toes last year.

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Over 80,000 men were deployed to check law and order on the streets of Delhi that saw some of the biggest congregations in the city’s history.

The two big protests of the year — Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement and Ramdev’s campaign against black money — got the police brickbats like never before.

The police faced stiff criticism from the public as well as political parties for the midnight crackdown on Ramdev’s yoga camp in June that led to his escape in woman's clothes.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to come to the commissioner's rescue by calling the incident "unfortunate but unavoidable".

The second big controversy was the handling of the anti-corruption campaign. The arrest of Anna Hazare just hours before he was to start his fast at Central Delhi's JP Park on August 16 led to one of Delhi’s biggest public protests.

The PM again defended the police, this time in Parliament. Eventually, the police had to allow Hazare to start his protest at Ramlila Maidan. Commissioner of Police BK Gupta claimed Anna Hazare’s protest was well handled by its force.

Apart from the two protests, Delhi saw an increase (almost double) in the number of processions and demonstrations in 2011. In 2010, the police had to make arrangements for 3,093 demonstrations or protests while the number touched 7,864 last year.