India / 19 accused held, 50 detained: Delhi Police on R-Day tractor rally violence

New Delhi: Nineteen people have been so far arrested and over 25 criminal cases registered by Delhi Police in connection with the violence that broke out during the farmers’ tractor march on Tuesday, Police Commissioner (CP) SN Shrivastava said on Wednesday.

Briefing media, Police Commissioner (CP) SN Shrivastava said police will use facial recognition system and take the help of CCTV and video footage to identify the accused.

“No culprit will be spared. 19 accused have been arrested and 50 people have been detained. They are being questioned,” he said.

The top police official further said that farmer leaders were responsible for inciting violence with their provocative speeches. 

The Police Commissioner said that they had held five rounds of talks with leaders of Samyukt Kisan Morcha after which three routes were mutually agreed upon for the rally in Delhi.

“Because it was also Republic Day, and keeping in view the security of people of Delhi so we laid down some terms and conditions which were given to them with written permission,” Srivastava said.

“The first condition was the tractor rally should start from 12 noon and end by 5 pm. After that, the second condition was, the tractor March should be led by senior leaders of the unions. It also decided that all union leaders should move with the supporters in order to guide and control them,” the police commissioner said.

Shrivastava added that by January 25 evening, it had come to the knowledge of the force that farmers were not agreeing to the conditions.

“They brought forward aggressive and militant elements who occupied their stage and delivered provocative speeches that made their intentions clear,” he said.

He further named farmer leaders Satnam Singh Pannu, Darshan Pal Singh, Buta Singh, and Rakesh Tikait among others for participating and making provocative speeches inciting violence. 

The Delhi police official also lauded the police force for showing restraint during yesterday’s violence.

"To minimise the loss of life, Police exercised restraint. 394 police personnel sustained injuries in the violence and several of them are still admitted to hospitals. Some of them are admitted to ICU wards," he added.

Protestors broke barricades to enter Delhi and indulged in vandalism across several parts of the national capital during their tractor rally organised to protest against the Centre's three new farm laws.

Several public and private properties were damaged in acts of vandalism by the protestors. A total of 22 FIRs have been filed by the Delhi Police with one of them mentioning the incident at ITO where a farmer died after his tractor overturned.

Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws - Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.