NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Friday refuted allegations of lathi-charge on yoga guru Ramdev and his supporters at Ramlila Maidan here but justified their midnight crackdown on the protesters saying permission had been given only to hold a yoga camp.
In their affidavit filed before the Court, the police claimed that no force was used against them and only eight tear-gas shells were fired on Ramdev's supporters after they turned violent and started hurling stones on the cops. Justifying their action, the police said the authorities had given permission to Ramdev to use the ground only to hold a yoga camp and not for any other purpose.
They said that instead of holding a yoga camp, Baba Ramdev instigated the crowd during his fast on the issue of corruption and black money at the vast ground where more than 20,000 people had gathered.
The police had filed their response following a direction by the Supreme Court which took suo motu cognisance of the crackdown and directed them to explain why they resorted to such action against Ramdev and his supporters.
The Court had expressed concern at reports of “police atrocities” and use of “brutal force” to disperse “innocent” people gathered at the site.
The Court had also taken note of articles and reports published in national dailies depicting “the sad state of affairs and brutality of the State in dealing with its innocent citizens”. The Court had issued notices to the Union Home Secretary, the Delhi Chief Secretary and the Delhi Police Commissioner asking them to respond within two weeks about the circumstances that led to the operation.
The police in their response said Ramlila Maidan was cleared on the night of June 4-5 to prevent any untoward incident because more than 20,000 people had gathered there beyond the capacity of the ground which is around 8,000 to 10,000. - PTI
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