New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS) A protest to mourn the death of the Delhi gang-rape victim turned violent Sunday afternoon as some students clashed with police at Jantar Mantar, in the heart of the Indian capital, and broke barricades. Police detained four people.
According to some peaceful protesters, a few students representing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) clashed with the police demanding speedy punishment for the rapists of the woman who died Saturday after battling for life.
“The protest was going on silently, but around 1.30 p.m. it turned ugly and violent when a group carrying flags and banners of ABVP tried to take out a march from Jantar Mantar to India Gate but police prevented them from moving ahead,” Deepali Sharma, a student of Amity University who came to protest with friends, told IANS.
The protestors managed to break some of the barricades but the police immediately contained them.
“Four men who were creating ruckus were picked up and taken to the police station,” a police official said.
A few elderly mourners, who joined the protest that started within hours of the victim’s cremation in southwest Delhi’s Dwarka area in the morning, condemned the violence.
“We are here for a purpose… we hope the cause is not hijacked or politicised,” said Pawan Gupta, an advocate aged around 50, seeking stricter anti-rape laws.
Police have imposed prohibitory orders around India Gate and Raisina Hill and barricaded all roads leading to the area, as well as shutting down five Delhi Metro stations in central Delhi.
The 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist was brutally assaulted and gang-raped by six men Dec 16 in a moving bus. She died Saturday while undergoing treatment in Singapore. Her body was brought back to Delhi for cremation.
