FIR Registered against Congress Workers in Delhi, against Renuka Chowdhury in Hyderabad
NEW DELHI, June 16: The Delhi police have registered an FIR against unknown Congress party workers for allegedly assaulting their personnel and destroying public property. The FIR was filed a day after Congress leaders claimed that Delhi Police forcibly entered AICC headquarters and thrashed party workers when they were protesting against summons to party leader Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate. Sagarpreet Hooda, Special CP (Law and Order) said the FIR has been registered for assaulting policemen, obstructing them in their duty, and destructing public property. “The protesters threw and broke barricades. Some of them even set a tyre on fire and assaulted our staff. We have registered a case and are investigating the matter,” added Hooda.
On Wednesday, senior Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala, Ajay Maken, K C Venugopal, and others alleged that the Delhi Police forcibly entered the party office and dragged workers. Several Congress leaders, as well as the party, shared a video of the incident on social media. The video shows a group of policemen, followed by paramilitary force personnel, entering the office and dragging a worker.
Hooda said the police have already received complaints from Congress against policemen for allegedly beating up workers.
There was no force used. It was a minor tussle. The protesters started throwing barricades at police and were pushing police personnel. The police were trying to detain them for illegal assembly and there was a scrimmage. We didn’t enter the party office. Only a few personnel went near the gate and held one to two men. We are looking into their complaint,” he said.
Meanwhile, a case has been filed against Congress leader and former MP Renuka Chowdhury for grabbing a cop’s collar during Hyderabad protests. She has been charged under Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code which punishes assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty.
A video of the incident has gone viral in the social media showing Ms Chowdhury grabbing the collar of a policeman in Telangana on Thursday during the party’s protest against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons to Rahul Gandhi. The 43-second video also shows Ms Chowdhury arguing with the policeman. She was then dragged by female police officers towards a police van.
Defending herself, Ms Chowdhury said that she grabbed the collar as she has a problem with her leg and lost her balance. “They were pushing me, I’ve a problem with my leg. I was losing my balance so I fell on him like that. I’ll apologise to that man. But I expect Police to apologise to me for manhandling us. Why were there so many men Police around us?” she said.
The protest was organised as part of “Chalo Raj Bhavan” call given by the Congress party to protest Rahul Gandhi’s questioning by the ED. He is being questioned by the agency in connection with a money-laundering case pertaining to the National Herald-AJL deal.
“The protest is our right. We will fight for justice. They (ED) are not taking cases of any BJP leaders. They are harassing only Congress people,” Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar said. The Bengaluru Police said the Congress protest was against the Karnataka High Court’s order. “High Court had earlier ordered that protests will not be held anywhere except Freedom Park. We conveyed it to them. They gave us in writing about protest but we rejected it. We conveyed it to them in the morning too. If they proceed, we will take them into preventive custody,” Bheemashankar S Guled, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru East said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
