New Delhi: The Delhi Police faced huge flak on Monday after a video showing its personnel thrashing protesters and dragging female activists by their hair outside the RSS office in the Jhandewalan area went viral. The students, who were “peacefully” demonstrating on Saturday against Dalit student Rohith Vemula’s suicide when the incident took place, called the incident “barbaric”.
The 30-second video also evoked sharp criticism from a number of quarters, with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal saying the police was being used as the “private army” of the RSS and BJP as the ruling establishment was at “war” with students across India. AAP leader Sanjay Singh went a step further, alleging that BJP and RSS workers were also involved in assaulting students along with the police. The Congress termed it a “brutal assault” by the police on a group of “unarmed protesters” and demanded strict action against the guilty policemen. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “Shocking attack on students. Instead of listening to them, now Modi govt is brutally beating them up for protesting against the RSS!” (sic)
Hitting back at the AAP, the RSS rejected allegations that some of its workers were involved in thrashing a group of student protesters along with the police.
“No RSS worker was there at that time. If somebody feels there was some high-handedness, there is the option of an inquiry. The police must have done whatever they found appropriate,” RSS Delhi unit media in-charge Rajiv Tuli said.
DCW notice to Police
Delhi Commission of Women has sent a notice to Delhi Police seeking to know why no women personnel were at hand during a protest near the RSS office here after a video emerged in which policemen at the site can be seen purportedly assaulting demonstrators, including women.
DCW has issued the notice totheJoint Commissioner of Police (Central Range),Sunil Kumar Gautam.
