Rape protests cause traffic snarls in Delhi

Central Delhi roads choked with traffic on Saturday as hundreds of people blocked the road in front of the Delhi police headquarters at ITO to protest the brutal rape of a five year old girl.

Central Delhi roads choked with traffic on Saturday as hundreds of people blocked the road in front of the Delhi police headquarters at ITO to protest the brutal rape of a five year old girl.

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The agitators, which included workers of several political parties, started gathering near the police headquarters since the morning causing a traffic nightmare on Central Delhi roads.

By afternoon, ITO was virtually cut off from the rest of the capital, with massive traffic jams being reported from Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Pragati Maidan, Shakarpur, Akshardham, Vikas Marg, Laxmi Nagar, Noida and surrounding areas.

According to traffic police, the situation was somehow managed by diverting traffic as the protest took place during non-peak hour and it was a weekend.

Traffic coming from Vikas Marg was diverted to Ring Road, while traffic leading towards the police headquarters from Tilak Marg and Mandi House was diverted towards Mathura Road.

"We have deployed additional forces to manage traffic. Normalcy was restored around 2pm," a senior traffic police officer said.

The worst sufferers were ignorant commuters, many of who got caught in jams for hours.

"I was not informed about the protest and got stuck at ITO for more than an hour on my way to Noida," said Raj Kumar, a commuter.

Another commuter, Manas Singh, said that it took him an hour to reach Indraprastha Metro station from Nizamuddin, on an auto as traffic clogged the Ring Road too as a ripple effect.