NEW DELHI: Family members of the 15 people arrested in connection with a violent protest in Old Delhi, were made to wait outside Daryaganj police station on Saturday to meet their kin. “My son-in-law (Irfan) had come to drop his wife near Daryaganj but was arrested for being involved in the violence,” said Salim, a garment trader, Irfan was arrested when he had gone to a mosque to pray as a protest erupted outside against the new citizenship law on Friday, said his father-in-law Mohammad Salim.
“They (police) have not let us talk to him and we have been told the arrested persons have been taken to Tis Hazari Court,” Salim said. Family members said they had been waiting with bated breath to hear about their loved ones. There was a heavy deployment of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel outside the police station, where the entry of outsiders was barred on Saturday.
Mohammad Chand, a student, was also among the 40 people detained and his uncle was also waiting for him outside the police station.“He was here to offer prayers and had nothing to do with what happened,” he said. Police said 15 people were arrested in connection with the violence in Daryaganj during the protests. Those arrested have been charged with rioting and using force to deter policemen from doing duty, police said.
The detained were not allowed to meet lawyers at first, but later, a Delhi court came to their rescue, by directing Delhi police to allow lawyers to meet the detainees and provide them legal remedies. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arul Verma issued the directions to the station house officer of the Daryaganj police station late Friday night when lawyers approached him at his residence, seeking permission to meet the detainees.
Verma directed the SHO to provide medical care to the detainees who were injured. The judge also pulled up Delhi police for detaining minors, saying if there be any minor who is allegedly in conflict with the law, he or she ought not be detained in the first instance and they should be, if need arises, dealt with as per the provisions of the law.
With PTI inputs