Vehicular movement came to a standstill on Friday afternoon here as scores of agitating women blocked traffic at Noida Gate, the stretch connecting the satellite town with the Capital and Greater Noida. More than 500 supporters of Asaram Bapu, mainly women, on Friday gathered at the point and staged a sit-in near Sector 14. The protest caused a huge pile up which affected traffic at the DND (Delhi-Noida Direct) flyway, Noida-Greater Noida Expressway and other arterial routes. The protesters were demanding FIR against news channels for their alleged attempt of character assassination of Asaram.
Noida police kept standing as mute spectators, while the protestors blocked the traffic on the stretch. Soon, the situation turned worse and the entire city came to a halt. It took more than four hours to restore normalcy as by 5.30 pm police managed to smoothen vehicular movement. A massive traffic snarl was witnessed in Noida during the protest, which ended around 5:30 pm. Scores of commuters, who were going towards Greater Noida and New Delhi, were stuck in the jam and later used Kalindi Kunj and other routes to reach their destinations. A long queue of vehicles appeared at Kalindi Kunj road, Jhundpura road and Sector 63 crossing during these hours.
Demonstrators, who were protesting under the banner of an NGO, raised slogans against Noida Police for not taking action against the news channels based in Noida city. They said a few news channels recently telecasted an obscene video allegedly showing Asaram indulging in obscene act with a minor girl to gain cheap popularity. They also threatened to intensify their stir from next week if police failed to initiate action against directors and editors of these news channels.
The demonstrators claimed that the video was doctored but the channels had aired it for their vested interests. “On December 13, a zero-FIR was also registered by the Gurgaon Police against the directors and editors of these channels but Noida Police has yet not initiated its investigation. We have also met SSP of Gautambudh Nagar several times but he has also failed to issue order to his sub-ordinates,” said Vashundhra, a protestor.
However, the Noida Police said that they could not initiate the probe as Gurgaon Police had not completed their formalities yet after registering the complaint. It was also claimed that the case was transferred with incomplete report.