Following multiple protests in the national Capital against the amended Citizenship Act, the Delhi Police to avoid any untoward incident and to curb rumours on Thursday suspended internet services in various parts of the city.
Police also used drones to keep a watch on protesters as they gathered to march against the amended citizenship law, from Red Fort in Old Delhi to Shaheed Park near ITO on Thursday morning.
The police had denied permission to the left-backed students organisation AISA and the Swaraj Abhiyan to hold a march against the Citizenship Amendment Act from the Red Fort, citing law and order issues. A huge number of protesters were stopped at police barricades on Nishadraj Marg in Daryaganj, while trying to reach Red Fort. A drone hovered over them to record the happenings.
The protesters broke into louder slogan shouting, cheering and clapping as they spotted the drone.
“Drones are being used to record happenings and in case of massive law and order situations, where things go out of hand, the recordings help identifying those who cause a situation to go out of hand,” said Mandeep Singh Randhawa, the Public Relation Officer (PRO) Delhi Police.
“Internet services were suspended from 9 am to 1 pm on Thursday in Walled
City areas of North and Central district, Mandi House, Seelampur, Jafrabad, Mustafabad, Jamia Nagar, Shaheen Bagh and Bawana so to avoid spreading of rumours,’ said Randhawa.
“However, no violence was reported in city on Thursday. To maintain law and order across the city, apart from police personnel, 52 companies of other forces, including RAF, were deployed. Police teams are also closely monitoring social media and WhatsApp groups to check rumour mongering,” said Randhawa adding that legal action will be taken against those who are found circulating malicious content to vitiate the atmosphere in the city.
“There were specific inputs that rumors might be triggered through social media sites and we also got inputs information of “mass movements from neighbouring States. There was proper checking on the borders and due to that, traffic was heavy. The way rumours were spread after Jamia violence, police first priority was to stop these rumours mongering,” said Randhawa.
Drones were also used by the police in Seelampur area that witnessed violence and arson on Tuesday, to identify “miscreants”.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police had made 12 fresh arrests in connection with the violence during protests in the northeast part of the city against the amended Citizenship Act.
“The police had arrested nine people on Tuesday and Wednesday in connection with the violence. Around 12 people were nabbed in connection with the violence and vandalism in Seelampur, five have been held for the Jafrabad case and four in the Dayal Pur cases,” said a senior police official.
Angry protesters demanding scrapping of the amended legislation had pelted stones at police personnel, torched several motorbikes and vandalised two police booths as well as three buses in Seelampur on Tuesday, leaving 21 people injured.
