Multiple ‘Jantar Mantars’ spring up as Delhi shuts

The unprecedented crackdown on protesters by Delhi Police and paramilitary forces prompted many youth organisations to shift their demonstrations on Saturday (October 10) to other areas, including the Safdarjung flyover, Dilli Haat, Raj Ghat and various makeshift detention centres in north-west Delhi.

The central part of the national capital was sealed with heavy police deployment and barricading while metro stations, schools, colleges and markets remained closed.

Announcements were made from loudspeakers across central Delhi that Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) was in place and citizens should follow the directions of the police and maintain law and order.

Curbs in place

Despite the restrictions, hundreds of protesters continued their attempts to reach the planned protest site – Jantar Mantar – but were stopped by the police, detained, bundled into buses and driven to the city’s outskirts.

While larger groups of 100-200 showed up under the banner of various youth organisations, several protesters, including women and children, made their way in smaller groups of four or five. The police, however, stopped the groups immediately and forced them to sit inside the buses.

Near Safdarjung flyover, several people tried to stop a bus full of detainees, including All India Students’ Association president Neha Bora.

While some stood in front of it, others sat on the road and lay down in front of the bus. The police pushed them away from the bus, and used batons to do so. Protesters noted the presence of a woman officer in civil clothes and several other police personnel without name tags.

“Police were very aggressive, pulling our hands and legs and brutally manhandling us. I was not expecting this kind of aggression… the way they are detaining people and the amount of restrictions put in place,” said a 15-year-old who came to the national capital from Goa along with her younger brother and father. Around 1 p.m., members of Disha Students’ Organisation, Naujawan Bharat Sabha and Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India (RWPI) organised a protest at Raj Ghat with over 150 people turning up. The protesters said many were detained, with the police using “excessive force and manhandling” them.

‘Pushed and pulled’

“There were five-seven police officers in civil clothes who picked me up and threw me on the pavement. There was another person named Aragya whose leg got twisted while the police picked him up. He is now admitted to a private hospital in Rohini. Another police officer punched several people inside the bus. The girls were pushed and pulled aggressively,” said Chiranshu, a member of RWPI.

They continued their protest inside the bus. They were taken to Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana – more than 30 km from Jantar Mantar – where they sang protest songs and talked about the alleged irregularities by the Election Commission of India with other protesters.

Members of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) held a public lecture on ‘India under undeclared Emergency’ by R. Gopinath, a retired professor from Jamia Millia Islamia who was also detained along with students, at the Bawana detention centre.

At Nangloi, Rajya Sabha member A.A. Rahim announced the begining of‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’ and sang the national anthem along with other protesters.

‘Hunger strike’

He also began a hunger strike and demanded action against and apology from Inspector Pawan Tomar for allegedly misbehaving with women students and for the return of all the phones and bags “snatched illegally” by Delhi Police.

Police officers claimed they too received injuries on their arms and legs while detaining protesters.

At least 12 people, including members of the Indian Youth Congress and two advocates, were detained from Raisina Road on Saturday morning and were not released until late at night.

Several others, including UPSC aspirants and an autorickshaw driver, all of whom said they were not even going to participate in the protest, were also detained from the area.

(With inputs from Jaidee pDeo Bhanj and Suruchi Kumari)