Delhi Police top brass briefs MHA officials on violence during anti-CAA protests

Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik on Tuesday briefed Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and other senior officials of the ministry on the violence at Jamia Milia University and Seelampur during anti-CAA protests and the prevailing situation in the national capital, officials said.

During a review meeting, the police commissioner was asked to explain the two incidents and the prevailing ground situation in Delhi.

The home ministry officials are said to have expressed their unhappiness over the two incidents happening within just three days, an official said.

They asked the Delhi Police brass to strengthen the intelligence gathering mechanism so that such incidents do not occur in future and timely action can be taken to prevent them, the official said.

Patnaik, along with Special Commissioners Praveer Ranjan and Satish Golcha, gave a detailed briefing about the incidents and steps being taken to restore normalcy in the capital, another official said.

The police officials explained that impromptu protests led to the violence near Jamia on Sunday and Seelampur on Tuesday, and the situation was brought under control by the police in both the areas, the official said.

The 30-minute meeting was also attended by Director of the Intelligence Bureau Arvind Kumar among others.

Some students of the Jamia Milia University and residents of the locality staged a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on Sunday and the demonstration turned violent, leading to police resorting to lathi-charge and using teargas.

Police also entered Jamia and detained several people.

Angry protesters demanding scrapping of the amended citizenship law torched several motor bikes, pelted stones at police personnel and damaged buses and a police booth in Northeast Delhi's Seelampur area on Tuesday afternoon, in fresh violence in the national capital.

Police resorted to baton charge and fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters.