By ANJANI TRIVEDI
Anjani Trivedi for The New York TimesProtesters at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Dec. 29.
In a city where the subway is seen as one of the few forms of safe public transport, particularly for women, the decision to stop people from using the centrally located Rajiv Chowk, Barakhamba and Patel Chowk stations has residents fuming, with many seeing it as the latest attempt by the government to keep protesters from assembling in central Delhi after a victim of a gang rape died over the weekend.
Only the Metro is affected. There are no road diversions on Monday, nor any traffic restrictions, said Rajan Bhagat, the public relations officer of the Delhi police. He said that protesters had been trying to go to “prohibited areas” on Sunday, which prompted the police to block roads in central Delhi, but that on Monday the protesters were staying out of those areas, so there was no need to close any roads.
Mr. Bhagat said that the police were allowing peaceful protests at Jantar Mantar and Ramlila Maidan. But when asked why the police shut the Metro stations and bus routes on Saturday when demonstrators tried to protest peacefully at Jantar Mantar, he declined to comment, saying that he was too busy to answer such questions.
Upamanyu Raju, 21, a student from Delhi University who has helped organize protests over the last couple of weeks, said that a gathering of a few hundred people at the central park at Connaught Place at 2 p.m. on Monday was told to disperse by the police. The protesters then moved to Jantar Mantar via Janpath Road.
“We didn’t want to have a confrontation with the police at this moment so we came to Jantar Mantar,” Mr. Raju said.
The authorities’ attempts to block off the political center of the city have provoked public ire.
Meanwhile, one prominent protester has accused the government of harassment.
“I was detained by the Delhi police after we submitted a memorandum to the Home Minister with five-step action plan to deal with sexual violence against women and declared a protest,” said Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, 27, president of Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena, a right-wing organization.
Mr. Bagga and his organization began protesting at India Gate on Dec. 22. The day after, the local area police showed up at his home, he said. Because he wasn’t there, they detained his father for six hours and took him to India Gate to point out his son. But the police were not able to find the younger Mr. Bagga.
On Dec. 24, the police showed up again at his home. This time, they took the younger Mr. Bagga to the police station. He was ordered to stay there all day and report to the station every day until further notice, he said.
“They told me if I promised to stay at home and not protest, they would let me go,” Mr. Bagga said. Subsequently, the police told him he could stop reporting to the station on Dec. 26.
Mr. Bagga’s organization then called for a “Hang the Rapists” march for Saturday, spreading the word through Facebook, Twitter and e-mail and by putting up posters, he said. However, Mr. Bagga could not attend – he had been detained the previous day at 6:30 p.m., this time under the orders of the assistant commissioner of police of the Chanakyapuri area.
“They gave me no papers, didn’t charge me with anything,” he said. “There’s a law – when they detain, they have to produce me in front of the magistrate within 24 hours, but they didn’t.”
Thirty hours after his arrest, he was allowed to leave but now has one or two police officers standing outside his house, he said.
“We detained him as a precaution so that he wouldn’t cause chaos,” said Surinder Sandhu, the local police officer who initially detained Mr. Bagga. “We saw the posters and local information told us.”
Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena’s call for action “was a bit destructive,” the police officer said.
“We made an entry in our register, and we didn’t have to give him any papers,” Mr. Sandhu said. “Under Delhi Police Act Section 65, if you think they will cause disturbance, then we can detain them for a few hours.”
Even though he was being watched by the police, Mr. Bagga pledged to keep fighting the government.
“I believe they are getting orders from the government and they think the protests will stop by doing all this,” Mr. Bagga said. “How can they government just stop us? It’s our constitutional right.”
Source: http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/subway-closings-and-detentions-frustrate-protesters-and-new-years-revelers-in-delhi/
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