Khalistanis Wanted to turn January 26 into Jallianwala Bagh 2.0. Delhi Police didn’t fall into trap

The unfortunate violence near the Red Fort on Republic Day is an eye-opener and it holds lessons for the law-enforcement agencies and the police.

Any crowd has the potential to turn hostile, more so, if it is leaderless and there is no uniformity in command.

In this case, adding fuel to the fire were the irresponsible statements made by certain leaders for political advantage.

Tuesday’s violence comes in the backdrop of undesirable elements infiltrating the protests—earlier, posters of Umar Khalid, among others, were seen at a protest site—and that should not have gone unnoticed.

I fail to understand why no preventive arrests were made, no proactive action taken under Sections 107 and 116(3) of The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

It was imminent that violence would break out, especially if the protesters were allowed inside Delhi. The Delhi Police’s 37-point directive to the protesters was issued only on January 25. These could not be implemented at a short notice for an agitation of such magnitude.

The rallies should have been escorted by police volunteers, that way the farmers would not have lost their way (as some unions have claimed). FAQs should have been circulated, and a contingency plan should have been in place.

Red Fort should have been turned into a cantonment, although the wake-up call came late.

I, however, would like to compliment the Delhi Police for showing exemplary restraint, not using lethal weapons against the protesters.

It would have opened a Pandora’s Box and the criticism against the action would have lasted decades, which was the game plan of Pakistan and Khalistan supporters. They wanted to turn January 26 into another Jallianwala Bagh and brand the police commissioner General Dyer.

Kudos to the Delhi Police for not falling into that trap. The Delhi Police acted as mature force and did not open fire.

I would also like to compliment the mahila contingent of the Delhi Police. In the face of great and sudden provocation and imminent danger, they stood their ground and braved the heavily armed and violent agitators.

THE WAY FORWARD

I believe 22 cases have been registered in connection to the violence unleashed in Delhi, and the investigation has been assigned to the Crime Branch. All the scientific tools for investigation must be harnessed—facial-recognition software, big data analytics and software-driven CCTV footage—to identify the key ringleaders. Heavy rewards must be announced on them and dedicated teams formed to go after India’s most-wanted. They should be taught a lesson: the sanctity of the Republic Day and the Tricolour are non-negotiable.

Lakha Sidhana and Deep Sidhu delivered incendiary speeches, which are on record; provisions under the MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) must be invoked to confiscate all their movable and immovable property. Affiliation to any political party does not help criminals.

The administration must learn lessons from this incident—these include preventive arrests, systems to provide actionable and quality intelligence and timely action based on them. The deployment pattern for such protest rallies should include a police party in front of the rally, at the rear, and in-between where police personnel in plain clothes can provide real-time monitoring.

Finally, I would like to question those who are calling the tractor driver, who succumbed to his injuries, a shaheed. The entire nation has seen his reckless driving, ramming into police barriers because of his own indiscretion and dying as a consequence. Let us not glorify that which is criminal and anti-national.