The Centre on Saturday refused to blame the Haryana Government for failing to prevent the widespread violence following Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s conviction in a rape case with the Union
Home Secretary saying, “In an ongoing situation, we cannot blame anyone.”
His comments came after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level meeting to review the country’s security situation, particularly in Haryana.
The Home Minister took note of the assurance of the DGP, Haryana, that the law and order situation in the State will be kept under control, the MHA said in a statement. NSA Ajit Doval, Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Rajiv Jain and chiefs of paramilitary forces were present in the meeting.
Emerging from the high-level meeting, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said the Director General of Haryana Police had assured the Centre that the situation was under control now. “Haryana, Punjab and Delhi have not seen many incidents today.
Panchkula and Sirsa had a situation yesterday but now the situation has normalised,” he told reporters.
Asked whether the Haryana Government had failed to control the situation, Mehrishi said, “In an ongoing situation we cannot blame anyone.” Home Ministry officials said the Home Secretary and the IB chief gave detailed presentations about the situation in Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from 24 Army columns, at least 20,000 paramilitary personnel were deployed in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh to assist the local police in dealing with the law and order situation. Twelve Army columns are deployed in Panchkula and eight columns in Sirsa are deployed. In Punjab, two columns each Mansa and Malaut are deployed to maintain law and order.
“The situation in Haryana was assessed at present to be under control, though it is being carefully monitored. The Home Minister took note of the assurance of DGP, Haryana that the law and order situation in Haryana would be kept in control,” the statement said.
Curfew has been imposed in several places in Haryana and Punjab while prohibitory orders have been imposed in nine districts of Uttar Pradesh, all but two districts of Delhi and one district in Rajasthan following massive violence, an official said.