Security force deployed at the site of communal violence at Jahangirpuri, New Delhi. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna) With the Delhi Police registering an FIR against two men from the Delhi unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal for organising a shobha yatra without permission in Jahangirpuri on April 16, the VHP Tuesday hit back, accusing it of coming under pressure from “secular and Muslim leaders”. The VHP also claimed it had taken permission for organising the yatra to mark Hanuman Jayanti, which preceded the violence.
“The Delhi Police Commissioner’s (Rakesh Asthana) statement that shobha yatra was taken out without permission is baseless. If they feel a certain procession should not be taken out, they write to the organisation concerned to cancel it. Delhi police had sent such a letter to us to cancel a shobha yatra in Shahdara on April 17 and we complied with it… I urge Delhi CP not to come under pressure from secular and Muslim leaders,” VHP Delhi president Surendra Gupta said in a statement.
Gupta said they were not informed about the yatra being cancelled.
“On April 15, we had informed the two police stations through which the Shobha Yatra had to be taken in writing. Information about 20 such processions in the city had been also sent to the police headquarters. Delhi police did not inform us about any of these processions being cancelled by them,” he said. The Delhi Police had filed two FIRs over Saturday’s violence that left nine people injured. The one against the VHP-Bajrang Dal men states: “On April 15, Prem Sharma, the zila sewa pramukh of the VHP, and Braham Prakash, co-department secretary, filed an application… for carrying out a procession. They have been informed that for such permission, they should take permission from DCP (Northwest). On April 16, without any permission, they gathered people and willingly carried out a procession ‘illegally’. There was a possibility of some tussle between two communities and it came to fore from the police station that they did not take any permission. Prem Sharma and Braham Prakash personally gathered all the people illegally and without taking permission, they organised a procession, which is a violation of a notification issued by ACP (Jahangirpuri) on April 1.. Legal action under IPC section 188 should be taken against them.”
In his statement, Gupta said he had met Asthana after the incident and convinced him about taking the procession through “sensitive areas”.
“On April 17, we went to meet the Delhi CP. He told us that when I tell you that a certain area is sensitive and you must not take out processions through it, you don’t listen to us. I had to tell him that this way entire Delhi will become sensitive. If we are going to divide Delhi into Hindu and Muslim areas, then tomorrow when Muslims take out Tazia processions, are we going to say it should not cross Hindu areas? He understood and changed his stand,” Gupta said.
The VHP Delhi chief also alleged that the police deployed just three personnel for around 1,000 participants.
He blamed an AAP leader for “planning an attack on the procession in connivance with Bengali and Rohingya Muslims”.
“The next day, under pressure from Muslim leaders such as Asaduddin Owaisi, Delhi Police changed its stand and began arresting innocent Hindu victims. It is clear that Delhi police is working under pressure from leaders such as Owaisi and (Arvind) Kejriwal. To balance the arrest of culprits, it is arresting innocent Hindus,” Gupta said.
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