The Delhi police on Saturday detained around 30-40 activists of the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) for allegedly staging an unauthorised protest at Shaheedi Park near ITO.
While the organisation claimed it had gathered for an oath-taking programme to commemorate Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, DCP (Central) Rohit Rajbir Singh said the group was protesting at a location where demonstrations were not permitted without prior permission and was disrupting public life. He said the protesters were sloganeering and displaying placards.
“They were later let off, and no cases have been booked,” Mr. Singh said.
The DCP said the protesters had three key demands — an end to what they described as the “cycle of repression” through the threat of fresh FIRs against people who took part in the 36-day-long Jantar Mantar protest; making public the report of the Supreme Court-appointed high-powered committee on alleged police repression during the protest; and the immediate dismissal of police officers held responsible for the alleged repression.
In a statement, the KYS alleged that students and members of the public, including its spokesperson Prithviraj, who reached the park to participate in the programme were detained and allegedly manhandled by the police. The organisation claimed that several people sustained injuries during the detentions, including fractures to their hands and legs.
“The programme was organised to commemorate Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru by garlanding their statues and taking an oath to continue the movement for equal opportunity in education and examinations. The activists were also carrying soil from Hussainiwala, where the remains of the three revolutionaries are memorialised,” the KYS said.
The KYS also raised concerns over the Supreme Court’s decision allowing the Delhi police to investigate 2,873 individuals identified by the Union government during the Jantar Mantar protest as having criminal antecedents involving “grave and heinous offences”, saying this could result in fresh FIRs being registered against some of them.
“Apart from the people who are implicated in serious crimes, a huge majority — 1,884 individuals — are those who have earlier been booked under other sections of the IPC/BNS. This creates ample scope for victimising those activists who have earlier been implicated in criminal cases for participating in democratic protests,” the organisation said.
The KYS maintained that previous criminal cases did not by themselves establish an individual’s involvement in violence and that any fresh case must establish a link between the person and the alleged offence.
Bhim Kumar, a member of the Delhi State Committee of the KYS, said the police cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s movement in the city as one of the reasons for restricting the gathering.
