Protesting BJP workers caned

As the saffron party workers began marching towards the Raj Bhavan to hand over a memorandum to the UT Administrator at around 2 pm,police personnel first fired water cannons on them and then resorted to lathicharge. The police said the agitating workers had jumped over the barricades erected on the slip road along the Madhya Marg,

“The BJP workers did not have permission to hold the rally in Sector 18. The police had to use lathicharge when the mob went out of control and jumped the barricades erected by the police,” SSP S S Srivastva said.

As many as 26 BJP men,including two sitting MLAs — Krishan Pal Gurjar and Anil Vij — and former mayor Gian Chand Gupta were taken to preventive custody under Sections 107 and 151 of CrPC fearing apprehension of breach of peace and 188 of IPC for violation of prohibitory orders of Assembly.

The chaos led to traffic disruption in the peak hours. People waiting at the bus shelter near the Panchayat Bhavan and those traveling on the route were also caught in the chaos,with everyone running for the cover. According to eyewitnesses,water cannons even landed on the vehicles of commuters.

The SSP said that even though it was an unexpected situation,the police were able to control the mob in time and no harassment was caused to the general commuters.

SP (City and Crime) Madhur Verma said the video footage would be verified and those who tried to break the security cordon will be brought to book.

Party supporters,however,said the police action was unwarranted as there was no provocation from their side. The memorandum was later submitted to the Administrator.