Scores of Jat protesters on Wednesday turned unruly and barged into the house of Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in bungalow no 2 at Krishna Menon Marg. The protesters created a ruckus, eventually leading to a massive traffic jam in entire Central Delhi.
In all, 142 people were arrested. The case was registered under Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (hurt) and 451 (tresspass) against the arrested people. Five police officials, including one sub-inspector, two constables and two head constables were also dimissed.
The worst-affected areas were Ashoka Road, Kalibari Marg, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Feroz Shah Road and Pant Marg among other stretches. The traffic disruption lasted for over two hours.
Jats, who had come from various parts of Haryana, parked their vehicles on the roads, paralysing vehicular movement. They were protesting against the Union and States Governments demanding 27 per cent reservation quota under the Other Backward Castes (OBC) category.
Police said that the agitating Jats under the aegis of the Akhil Bharatiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti staged a protest at Jantar Mantar. But around 2.15 pm, suddenly a large number of protesters went to Krishna Menon Marg residence of Shinde in three buses and in their cars where they shouted slogans against the Government. “Though Shinde was not present in the house, they barged into his residence but they were caught by the security men. Security persons were manhandled by them and they also hurled abuses at them,” a senior police officer said.
Police did not have any clue about the protesters’ intention and were taken by surprise when they landed in front of the Home Minister’s residence. The incident was reported around 2.45 pm and local police immediately rushed to the spot. “They arrested around 142 protesters and also seized their cars from the area. All the protesters were later taken to the Tughlak Road police station,” the officer added.
The protest that began in the afternoon and continued till evening and the commuters were stuck for more than two hours as the police even barricaded the stretch to stop the demonstrators due to which the general commuters were also stuck and were not able to move.
“It took over 40 minutes in commuting from Gurdwara Bangla Sahib to ITO, which normally takes 15 minutes. Traffic was crawling on Ashoka Road and Feroz Shah Road,” said Sidrah Sameen, a commuter. Some other commuters said they were caught unaware in the traffic jam while coming from the airport.
As these roads were chocked, the pile-up even extended to Mandi House. Traffic in areas like ITO, India Gate and Delhi Gate was too not spared as vehicles took alternative routes to avoid jams. Areas like Mandi House, ITO, Barakhamba Road, Tughlak Road, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, inner and outer circle of Connaught Place were spilled with number of vehicles and motor cyclists stuck.