Delhi Police ‘won’t allow' CJP's Parliament march on July 20, calls it ‘illegal’

DElhi law officials on sabbatum said they would non grant the Sansad Chalo process to Parliament that the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has called for Monday morning, describing the entire ongoing hunger strike at Jantar Mantar as an “illegal” protest for which no fresh permission had been sought.Senior officers said the march would be stopped on the grounds that it would disrupt law and order in a high-security zone, endanger public safety and choke traffic in central Delhi. Detentions, they said, would follow if a large gathering pushed toward Parliament.‘CJP continued protest without clearance’A senior police officer aware of the matter, who asked not to be named, said the CJP had permission only for a single day at Jantar Mantar, had signed undertakings to that effect, and had subsequently extended the protest without clearance. “CJP spokesperson Abhijeet Dipke has never informed us or applied for a permission for the Sansad Chalo march. It’s a completely illegal protest because they only had permission for one day. We even made them sign undertakings. Now, they have extended it without any permission. Also, for the march, we only approached them but they have not even applied for a permission,” the officer said.CJP spokesperson Vaishnavi Gaur disputed the account. “We had intimated them about the march way back. They know very well about the march and our plans. In any case, they won’t allow us,” she told HT, adding that it was only done in person and not in writing.Tight security measures at Jantar MantarThe police have deployed over 100 personnel, along with Rapid Action Force units, on both sides of the Jantar Mantar site and inside the protest area. Officers said 200 personnel would be posted on Saturday and Sunday, additional units and paramilitary forces would be called in for Monday’s march, and extra police vans have been placed around the site. The crowd at Jantar Mantar swelled from around 500 to 800 through the day, they said.Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk, on an indefinite hunger strike for 21 days over irregularities in national examinations including the NEET-UG paper leaks, was forcibly removed from the site early on Saturday and shifted to Safdarjung Hospital, triggering a commotion in which supporters were lathi-charged and Dipke was briefly detained. Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Sachin Sharma, in a statement, said Wangchuk had been moved on the orders of the Delhi High Court and on expert medical advice, and asked protesters at Jantar Mantar “to peacefully vacate the place at the earliest.”Police reject CJP's allegations of assaultAnother senior officer aware of the matter, who asked not to be named, rejected the CJP’s allegations of assault and of the electricity supply at the site being cut. “We didn’t attack them or hit them. We didn’t even cut off electricity. All their allegations are false. We only picked up Sonam because of doctor’s advice who told us he is suffering from severe dehydration… The police teams acted in a professional manner and took him to Safdarjung Hospital. We are still monitoring his health. The other students, who also fell sick, we have helped them,” the officer said.New police commissioner Anurag Kumar held multiple meetings with senior officers on the protest, following which they formulated the plan to shift Wangchuk to the hospital, one of the officials cited above said. “Two such meetings were held on Friday about the protest. They discussed routines of the different spokesperson who sit on stage with Dipke. Around midnight, SHOs from New Delhi district were called by the DCP in the name of a security drill. On Saturday, around 2-3 am, district staff appeared and found that were tasked to remove Wangchuk. Seniors formed teams and directed them to remove Wangchuk and ‘rush’ him to an ambulance in seconds.”