Police lodge case of sedition in connection with Red Fort incidents on R-Day

According to a senior police officer, a case under section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered and the incident is being investigated.

The Delhi Police has registered a sedition case in connection with the violence at Red Fort during a tractor parade by farmers on Republic Day, officials said on Thursday.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, file photo, a Sikh man hangs on to pole holding a Sikh religious flag along with a farm union flag at the historic Red Fort monument during a farmers protest against new farm laws in New Delhi, India. A sea of tens of thousands of farmers riding tractors and horses stormed India’s historic Red Fort this week — a dramatic escalation of their protests, which are posing a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. (AP Photo/Dinesh Joshi, File) (AP)

According to a senior police officer, a case under section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered and the incident is being investigated.

Earlier, the Delhi Police had named actor Deep Sidhu and gangster-turned-social activist Lakha Sidhana in an FIR lodged in connection with the Red Fort incident.

Thousands of protesting farmers, who reached ITO from the Ghazipur border, clashed with the police. Many of them, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort and entered the monument.

They hoisted flags on the domes and placed the flagstaff at the ramparts of the national monument, where the national flag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.

The Red Fort will remain closed for visitors from January 27 to January 31, according to an order issued by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

While the order does not mention the reason behind the closure, it refers to earlier orders of January 6 and January 18, whereby the iconic monument was closed from January 19 to January 22 due to a bird-flu alert.