The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has urged Rakesh Asthana, the Delhi Police Commissioner, to identify errant officers as it said that Hindus were being falsely implicated in the Jahangirpuri violence case. VHP also said that the police was misleading the court in order to implicate Hindus in the violence that broke out when an Islamist mob attacked Hindus taking out the Hanuman Jayanti procession in Jahangirpuri.
The VHP has claimed that prior permission was sought by the organiser of the Hanuman Jayanti procession and was duly granted by the Delhi Police, however, after the violence broke out in Jahangirpuri, the police did a u-turn and denied having given permission for the rally.
“On April 15, we had intimated two local police stations in writing. We had also sent a list of shobhayatras (processions) that were to be taken out at 20 other locations in the city to the police commissioner through WhatsApp,” Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) national spokesperson Vinod Bansal told PTI.
“But we did not get any information from the police about the cancellation of these processions, except one that was scheduled to be taken out at Shahdara on April 17 (a day after the Jahangirpuri violence),” Bansal said, adding, “We have the records and we can produce those before the court if asked.” The VHP leader alleged that the violence broke out at Jahangirpuri during the Hanuman Jayanti procession on April 16 due to the “inaction of the police” and “some police officers are now trying to shift their sin of inaction on others”.
“They are also misleading the court by changing their statements. There is a conspiracy to implicate innocent Hindus in the case,” he said while saying “the VHP will not tolerate it”. Bansal also added that Rakesh Asthana, the police commissioner, must identify and oust these officers from the police force since they are tarnishing his and the force’s name.
While rejecting the bail pleas of some of the accused, the Court shifted the blame to the Hindus and the police for failing to stop the Hindus from taking out their religious procession which seemed to have irked the Islamists. The court had further said that the issue had been “brushed aside” by senior officers.
“The issue seems to have been simply brushed aside by the senior officers. The liability on the part of the concerned officials needs to be fixed so that in future no such incident takes place and the police are not complacent in preventing the illegal activities. Their complicity, if any, also needs to be investigated,” Additional Sessions Judge Gagandeep Singh said. Interestingly, the court seems to have based this observation on the notion that the Hanuman Jayanti had no permission, however, VHP has said that they had the permission and the police are misleading the court by making these claims.
Vinod Bansal said that the police were squarely responsible for the violence as they had deployed only 3 police personnel to maintain law and order during the procession. Responding to the observation made by the court about the procession not having requisite permissions, he further said, “Then what were the policemen doing there while moving with the procession? Why did they not stop it at the starting point itself?” Reacting to a similar accusation that surfaced on social media platforms, the police on Sunday said it had a “prime and very focussed responsibility of maintaining law and order in the area. If any situation erupts, police have to see to it that the situation does not worsen and that is the reason adequate policemen were there”.
The Jahangirpuri violence and attack against Hindus taking out Hanuman Jayanti procession
On April 16, a Muslim mob attacked a Hindu procession celebrating Hanuman Jayanti with stones, bottles, and firearms in the area. So far, over two dozen people have been arrested for the violence. As reported earlier by OpIndia, the region is a hotspot for unlawful encroachment and criminal activity.
