Kanwarias in Delhi. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
It took more than 25 minutes for a dozen-odd kanwarias armed with baseball bats to overturn a Santro car, assault one of the occupants and bring traffic to a standstill — as three Police Control Room (PCR) officers tried to reason with them.
But with their efforts in vain, and police realising the situation could escalate, Moti Nagar police station, barely 100 metres away, rushed five more officers to the spot — without riot gear. By the time they reached, the group, which had gone on a rampage after the Santro allegedly brushed past one of them, had disappeared.
A day later, the men seem to be in the wind — and police at a loss for answers. While an FIR has been registered, it is only against “unknown persons”. This, despite the incident being caught on video. According to an officer, the fact that thousands of kanwarias took the route on Tuesday has made it difficult for police to narrow down the group.
For now, police said they are contacting rest shelters along the route for information about the accused. An officer said they are looking at the CCTV footage to pull out photographs that can be used to identify the men. “Of course it will be difficult to ascertain their identity. But we are confident of tracing them,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vijay Singh. “During inquiry conducted by an ACP-rank officer, it came to the notice that one of the kanwarias was slapped by the woman, which further agitated them.”
Kanwarias captured on video vandalising the car.
In fact, the kanwarias were not supposed to be on this stretch in the first place. But with the dedicated corridor meant for their movement waterlogged, the men took an alternative route, police said. “We had made a special corridor for them to pass through. But due to heavy rain, the makeshift route had been filled with water and they were forced to walk on the main road,” Singh said. On Wednesday, barricades had come up to ensure kanwarias had a dedicated path.
Eyewitnesses have claimed that it took police over 20 minutes to send back-up to help the three PCR staffers who first reached the spot, though police maintain it was about 10 minutes.
“The kanwarias started smashing the windows of the car with their bare hands. Some of them had blocked traffic by placing several pitchers, ostensibly filled with Ganga jal. They gathered within minutes, destroyed the car, and even took selfies as the two officers watched,” claimed Abhishek Sharma, an eyewitness. Local police claimed they did not send men with riot gear as that could have escalated the situation.
The occupants of the car — the woman who was driving and her friend who was roughed up — had opted not to file a complaint. This prompted police to register an FIR on their own — under IPC sections 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 34 (common intention).
The woman behind the wheel, daughter of an Army officer, could not be contacted for a comment.