Delhi police on Friday said it has allowed ex-servicemen to continue their protest at Jantar Mantar, after a failed attempt to evict them drew flak from various quarters and forced the government to restrain the cops.
Earlier in the day, agitating ex-servicemen demanding the implementation of One Rank One Pension were allegedly manhandled by the police as it tried to evict them from protest hot-spot Jantar Mantar ahead of the Independence Day celebrations on security grounds.
However, the ex-servicemen refused to leave.
The police said they tried to evict protesters of various groups from Jantar Mantar following a request by civic agency New Delhi Municipal Council.
“The NDMC authorities had come to remove certain encroachment on the road and we were assisting them. However, the veterans did not want to discontinue with their dharna,” Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said.
The eviction move drew flak from various quarters with the ex-servicemen terming it “barbaric” and “undemocratic” and saying that it will be a “black Independence Day” as police tried to “curb our independence”.
“When their leaders spoke to me, I permitted them to continue with the dharna,” Bassi said, but asserting that “tomorrow other groups present there may not be allowed to sit”.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said he had asked Bassi not to remove the ex-servicemen. “I have asked the commissioner not to remove the ex-servicemen from Jantar Mantar and let them continue the protest,” he said.
Bassi said as per rules no structure can be erected at Jantar Mantar, although few groups had violated those regulations which are “not in tune” with various undertakings.
“Our objective is to maintain law and order and also ensure that people who protest peacefully do not have to face unnecessary inconvenience. That is why we have so far been tolerating these temporary structures at Jantar Mantar,” he said.
Image: Ex-servicemen during their agitation for One Rank One Pension at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Photograph: PTI