Those detained in view of October 10 protest in Delhi against the Election Commission of India (ECI) over alleged discrepancies were given food, tea, coffee and other refreshments and were not lodged in jails, the Delhi Police told the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Major unrest prevented, says Delhi Police
The Delhi Police has also said the mass detentions ahead of the anti-CEC protest helped avert a ‘major public order situation’, HT reported earlier. Track live updates on Delhi protests The Delhi Police made the claims in a counter-affidavit filed in response to contempt proceedings over alleged non-compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions on regulating public transport during the protest. However, the Delhi Police responded with a mass crackdown, detaining major leaders, including CJP’s Dipke, Saurav Das and Abhijeet Ranka.
As stated in an earlier HT report , police said the detainees were released within a few hours, before the maximum 24-hour period contemplated under the relevant provisions; they were not lodged in police lock-ups or jails, were provided food and allowed to leave once the circumstances necessitating their removal had ceased. Defending the move to deny permission for the CJP’s anti-CEC protest at Jantar Mantar, Delhi Police commissioner Anurag Kumar reportedly said that people were removed under Section 65 of the Delhi Police Act and Section 172 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) only where Section 163 orders were in force. Abhijeet Dipke-led CJP on had called for a protest against the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on October 10 over the alleged SIR irregularities. The trio reached Delhi from Mumbai on the morning of October 10 and were picked up from the plane itself by Delhi Police personnel after it landed at the airport.
In an affidavit, cops said that the detained leaders were accommodated in police station offices.
