October 10 detainees provided ‘hot, fresh, good meals’, only cellular internet was suspended: Delhi Police to SC

Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar has told the Supreme Court that “preventive measures” taken on October 10 were based on intelligence inputs, ever-changing ground situation, and with an objective of preventing any disturbance of public order.

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The police chief said detainees of the October 10 protests were provided “hot, fresh and good meals”. They were not locked up in jails, but kept in makeshift centres. They were allowed to leave “after the occasion which necessitated their removal ceased to exist”. The police said the detainees were confined only for two to six hours.

Mr. Kumar said political leaders, “similarly removed”, were “requested to sit in the chambers of the Station House Officers and were provided tea, coffee, meals and other refreshments while fully maintaining the dignity of the office they held or were holding”.

Mr. Kumar said only cellular internet services were suspended, not “internet per se”, and that too within a four-km radius of Raisina Hill.

The “preventive measures” taken by the police were meant to retain the “peace and tranquility and public order ” of New Delhi, the police chief said.

Not naming the Cockroach Janta Party directly, Mr. Kumar pointed out that “no police administration can permit any breach of public order in the national capital, particularly when a call is given by an organisation with a recent history of mob violence, destruction of public and private property, and incidents resulting in injuries to several individuals”.

His response to petitions challenging the crackdown and detention of protestors demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on October 10 covered several pages detailing the July 20 “unlawful assembly” and “illegal march” to the Parliament, which culminated in violence.