The protest against ineffective policing in the wake of five-year-old girl's rape continued on the second consecutive day on Sunday. The protest that remained centred at the Delhi Police Headquarters on the previous day, spread across the Capital — including the residences of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Placard-wielding protesters also gathered at AIIMS, where the girl is undergoing treatment, and burnt the effigy of Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar demanding his sacking. Traffic was affected at ITO and India Gate in the evening as the number of protesters swelled that prompted the police to close the roads leading to these areas.
More than 100 people, who staged protest at PHQ and near the residences of Singh and Gandhi, were detained and later released. Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed near the residence of the Prime Minister and PHQ. The protesters were in small groups unlike the thousands who had swamped India Gate and Rajpath last December following the gang-rape of a 23-year-old in a moving bus, but their anger was palpable. The number was also lesser than that witnessed on Saturday. Delhi has recorded 393 rapes in the first three months of this year compared to 152 during the same period last year.
Anticipating further protests, Delhi Metro closed down its Race Course station near the Prime Minister’s residence for public on Sunday evening. The station was closed at 6:45 pm, hours after a group of Aam Aadmi Party activists tried to stage protest at 7-Race Course Road (RCR) residence of Singh. The closing down of the station came after instructions from Delhi Police, a Delhi Metro official said. "There is no definite time period as to when the station will be opened again, it could be re-opened tonight or tomorrow (Monday)," the official said.
Earlier, in the day hundreds of women protesters, under the banner of BJP’s Mahila Morcha, staged a demonstration outside 10, Janpath, the residence of Sonia Gandhi. They entered into a scuffle with the policemen and even tried to remove the barricade. This prompted the police to use mild force to disperse them. Around 15-20 members of Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP tried to stage a protest in the evening near the PM's residence but were detained by the police. Over 100 AAP supporters had earlier protested at the Police Headquarters. As a precautionary measure, police had deployed water canons at PHQ.
later, a group of around 100 JNU students under the leadership of JNUSU president lenin marched towards PHQ but was stopped near ITO. Women and student activists staged demonstrations near India Gate in the evening hours.
JNU Students tried to march towards India Gate but were prevented from moving closer to the war memorial. They staged protest near Patiala House court complex. Some students who were also marching towards India Gate were stopped near Taj Mansingh Hotel by the police. Women activists also reached near India Gate in a march from Central Secretariat breaking barricades erected on the way. However, they were prevented from moving near India Gate. The protesters shouted slogans against Delhi Police and Government and demanded stringent punishment for the culprit and policemen who refused to help the victim and her family when they approached police. On Saturday, there were protests at PHQ, AIIMS, Gandhinagar Police station and also at residence of Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.