Around 200 more protesters detained from Connaught Place while marching towards Jantar Mantar: Sources
New Delhi ; Around 200 more protesters were detained in the Connaught Place area of the national capital while attempting to march towards Jantar Mantar, Delhi Police sources said on Saturday.
Delhi Police continued to detain activists after informing them that permission had not been granted for the protest.
CJP activist Abhijeet Dipke, who travelled from Mumbai to Delhi to participate in the protest, posted a video on Instagram alleging that police personnel were detaining him and his associates as they disembarked from their flight at Delhi Airport.
In the video, Dipke is heard alleging, “So, you can see that Delhi Police is entering the plane to arrest us. They are all entering the plane. We just landed. All the Delhi Police officers are standing in the aisle. They are trying to arrest us from inside the plane. The entire Delhi Police is getting on the plane… This is the fear of Narendra Modi… Not even Indira Gandhi did this during the Emergency. All we wanted to do is a peaceful protest, and they are picking us up from the flight like we are criminals.”
He further alleged, “You can see where the nation is heading. They are here to arrest us directly from the flight. This is something not even Indira Gandhi had done. This is dictatorship, where Delhi Police has entered the flight and is trying to arrest us. Come on, arrest us. We are here to be arrested. Come on, arrest us. We are here to be arrested… We are not afraid of you.”
The CJP also shared a video of its legal head, Ratna Singh, who claimed that she was being detained while attempting to leave her home in her car.
In the video, Singh alleged that police personnel had arrived at her residence in the morning and sought to detain her without providing official documentation.
“They came to my house in the morning and were told that I am not here. We asked for official notification; do they have some? They have nothing. They just said, ‘We need to detain you, we have orders from above.’ I don’t know which ‘above’ the orders came from for them. And they keep saying, ‘Get out of the car, we will detain you at your home.’ They don’t even want to take me anywhere else, they want me to stay here only. And I am not getting out of the car. They are not leaving this space, so I am in a way, illegally detained on the road,” she said.
The CJP also claimed that content creator Dhruv Rathee had been detained, alleging in a post that the government was afraid of young people questioning its actions.
Earlier, Delhi Police detained around 500 people who arrived in different groups from various locations ahead of the planned protest in the national capital. Nearly 50 people with criminal antecedents were also apprehended as part of preventive measures, officials said.
“Around 500 people coming in different groups from various locations have been detained. In addition, nearly 50 anti-social elements with criminal antecedents have been picked up so that they do not disturb the atmosphere or incite trouble,” Delhi Police said.
As part of the security arrangements, the New Delhi district was divided into 20 operational zones, with dedicated detention centres established for each zone, police said.
“The New Delhi district has been divided into 20 zones, and dedicated detention centres have been set up for each zone. Stadiums across the national capital have also been converted into temporary detention centres,” the police added.
