A day after protest over demolition of Ravidas temple turned violent on Wednesday, Tughlaqabad in South east Delhi on Thursday limped back to normalcy as the Delhi Police deployed a strong posse of armed police personnel in Govindpuri, Alaknanda and Tughlaqabad to keep troublemakers  at bay.

“Police keeping  a tight vigil on each and every activity in the area. Around 60 CRP personnel along with police have been deployed on the temple site. Further pickets have been also installed at various points as a precautionary measure,” said Chinmoy Biswal, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), South-East district.

Earlier, police had installed a board at the temple site which says, “This land belongs to the Delhi Development Authority  (DDA) according to a Supreme Court order. Occupying it is a punishable offence.”

However, a group of people, after being denied entry to the temple site went on rampage and clashed with residents, passersby and Delhi Police personnel on Wednesday night.

RESIDENTS SPEAK

“There has been a heavy police deployment since Wednesday morning as the temple site is on walking distance from here. At 6 pm police official came to us and asked us to close shops as soon as possible,” said Kamal Gupta, who is running a sweet shop in Tughlaqabad Extension for the last 10 years.

“We were pulling down shutters of our shops when suddenly around 6.50 pm several people came and started pelting stones at our shops and vehicles standing on roadside. Seeing the situation we also locked up ourselves including few customers in the shop till 9 pm, They even broke the CCTV camera installed in front of my shop,” said Gupta.

“They had vandalised a police bike in front of us and also broke several car glasses. They were also using wooden battens and whatever was coming in their way,” said Hari Om, a shopkeeper in the area adding that the crowd dispersed in the residential colonies after police team arrived here. 

OKHLA ESTATE ROAD

“After the group of protestors entered the area we had already locked ourself inside our houses. The crowd here broke several cars parked on main road and in residential area,” said Atul Kashyap, a resident. “When the mob had passed away from the area we came out of house and saw several vehicles were damaged by the mob,” said Abdul, who runs a briyani shop and is resident of the area.

“If they were protesting why did they vandalise so many vehicles. They could have raised their demand in a peaceful manner not by disturbing peace and people in the area. Now we have a fear of this mob coming again,” said Tushar, a resident.

TIMELINE

On Wednesday, around 4 pm, a group of Dalit activists who had gathered at the Ramlila Maidan began marching towards Tughlaqabad.

“To maintain law and order situation in the area police had already deployed heavy force in the area but around 4,000/5,000 agitators broke the barricades. When police dissuaded the protesters, they dispersed but gathered again in small numbers near Nizamuddin,” said a senior police official.

“Police had set up barricades near Ashram Chowk and then at Maa Anand Mayi Marg to stop them from reaching the site of the demolished Ravidas temple. However, they mixed among the locals to avoid being stopped by the police,” said the senior police official.

Around 6 pm, the main drama began when protesters broke one layer of barricade after another when police tried to stop them from getting close to the temple that was demolished 10 days ago.

The protesters approached the site, which had been cordoned off by the Delhi Police. However, several police officials were also asked to call in their teams and more than 600 policemen covered the area in the next one hour. A four layer barricade was set up by the police, two of which were broken by the protesters.

The protesters started pelting stones at the police teams as soon as police tried to stop them. Around 7 pm, police started using tear gas shells but the stone pelting continued.

The protesters smashed the windshields and window panes of more than 20 cars parked along the road. Seeing the agitated crowd, the locals started to run haywire to save their lives. A few residents even opened the gates of their houses for the locals.

“Around six Government vehicles were set on fire by the mob. Several other vehicles on roads and residential areas were also damaged by the mob,” said a police official. The protesters were forced to recede after 29 rounds of tear gas shelling. Around 96 protesters were arrested by the police.