Police use water cannons to disperse Aam Aadmi Party activists staging a protest in front of Delhi police headquarters yesterday.
Agencies/New Delhi
Police yesterday fired water canon at demonstrators rallying in the national capital against the failure to provide better safety for women after a teen was allegedly stabbed to death.
Dozens of angry protesters, mainly from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, tried to break through and jump over barricades erected around the police headquarters over the alleged murder of a 19-year-old girl last week.
The victim’s family says she was stabbed to death in their central Delhi neighbourhood after trying to avoid being harassed by two men late last Thursday. The 11th grader was stabbed 35 times, according to media.
The Delhi government has accused the police of abetting the killing by “inaction”, saying they had never registered complaints the victim filed against the perpetrators - two brothers from the locality - since 2013.
“It is beyond comprehension that a crime has perpetuated in the capital city despite prior complaints,” Delhi Home Minister Satyendra Jain wrote in a letter to the city’s police chief Bhim Sain Bassi late Saturday.
“The inaction of police failed to provide security to the deceased girl,” he said, demanding a detailed report by today.
Kejriwal is scheduled to meet Bassi today over the incident.
Kejriwal on Saturday called on the victim’s family and announced a compensation of Rs500,000.
The police have arrested both brothers and are investigating the latest case which has once again raised the issue of women’s safety in India and particularly in Delhi, which has been dubbed the “rape capital” after a string of high-profile sex assaults.
The fatal gang-rape of a medical student in December 2012 on a bus in Delhi triggered mass protests and led to a tightening of laws on sex crimes.
Delhi’s special status as a partial state means that many of its key services - including the police force - are controlled by the federal government.
Kejriwal, who has been fighting to get greater powers of control over the police, has blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “the deteriorating law and order situation in Delhi.”
Bassi meanwhile confirmed he would meet Kejriwal today.
“I received a letter from the chief minister’s office, asking if a meeting was possible. I will definitely meet him at 4pm tomorrow and exchange views,” Bassi said yesterday.
“May be, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government will be able to tell us something useful. In return, I can tell them something that helps increase their knowledge about policing. After all, I have spent 38 years of my life in policing and have had different experiences,” he told reporters.
“As a professional police officer, it is my duty that I should remove any misconceptions about policing. I will have a good opportunity in the meeting to clear misconceptions, if any,” the police chief said.
About the AAP government’s criticism of Delhi police over law and order issues, Bassi said: “It’s always good to have critics since they help you know about your flaws.”
