The Delhi Police have registered a criminal case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and invoked sedition charges in connection with the violence at Red Fort on Republic Day, NDTV reported on Thursday. The police and farmers had clashed on Tuesday during a tractor rally, leaving 394 police personnel injured.
In a statement, the police said that a special cell was investigating the case and are looking into the role and conduct of various organisations based in as well out of India. The police also alleged that there was a conspiracy behind the events that unfolded on Tuesday.
“A preliminary assessment suggests that there was a preconceived and well-coordinated plan to break the agreement reached between the Delhi Police and the leaders of the farmers’ organisation, to indulge in violent confrontations with the security forces, to breach the sanctity of iconic and historical structures/monuments and to create an international embarrassment for the government over the occasion of the Republic Day.”
— Delhi Police
Unidentified officials told The Times of India that the police will book those involved in the hoisting of Sikh religious flag, Nishan Sahib, on a Red Fort minaret, besides lodging first information reports for rioting. The police will also look into other flags waved at Red Fort during the violence.
Dramatic scenes had unfolded in Delhi on Tuesday as farmers protesting against the agricultural laws clashed with the police, who used tear gas and batons to control them. One protestor was killed in the clashes in Delhi’s ITO area. Many protestors went to the Red Fort and raised flags on a minaret.
Twenty-five criminal cases have been filed in connection with the violence, and 19 persons have been arrested so far. The police have also detained around 200 protestors on charges of rioting, damaging public property and attacking its personnel.
The police have alleged that farmer leaders made inflammatory speeches, and were involved in the violence during the tractor parade. Farmers have denied the allegations and blamed “antisocial elements” for the chaos.
However, several farmer leaders, including Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav and Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Haryana unit President Gurnam Singh Chaduni, were named in one of the FIRs filed by the police.
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