Protests and gatherings banned in central and border areas of the city till October 5: Police

An order issued from the Delhi Police Headquarters directed Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora to enforce Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita section 163 (previously section 144 of the CrPC) in the districts of New Delhi, North, and Central, as well as all police station jurisdictions sharing the borders with other states.

The order states that the restriction will be in place until October 5. On October 2, the day of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth, “there will be heavy movement of VVIPs and dignitaries in the areas of New Delhi and Central District,” the statement said.

The directive further said that while elections for the legislative assemblies of Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana are now taking place, there is a need for ongoing surveillance of the flow of people and cars out of the boundaries of Delhi.

According to the directive, during the aforementioned elections, the areas where state migrants reside may become especially susceptible due to infiltration and incitement by anti-social groups that have a vested interest in upsetting public order in the nation’s capital.

Due to the order, the Delhi Police have arrested over 120 persons from Ladakh, including climate campaigner Sonam Wangchuk, who had marched to the national capital to demand that the Union Territory be placed on the sixth schedule.

Thus, for a period of six days (from September 30 to October 5), the districts of New Delhi, North, and Central, along with all police stations having territorial jurisdiction over the state borders of Delhi, prohibit the gathering of five or more uninvited individuals, the carrying of firearms, banners, placards, lathis, spears, swords, sticks, brickbats, and pocketing or dharnas in any public area. Any violation of this will be punished under Section 223 (previously Section 188 of the IPC) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, it continued.

In the meantime, Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said, “Undeclared emergency,” in a post on X. This directive cites a hundred strange arguments in favor of implementing a curfewlike system in Delhi. Nothing about the rationale seems legitimate. “I think the government is afraid that the people in Delhi will speak out against the rise of GANSTERS (gangsters) and the firing of people for extortion in Delhi,” the man said.