15 arrested for Daryaganj violence during CAA protest

New Delhi, December 21

Fifteen people have been arrested in connection with the violence in Daryaganj in Old Delhi during a protest against the new citizenship law, police said on Saturday.

Initially 10 people were held but five more were arrested later, they said.

Those arrested had been charged with rioting and using force to deter policemen from doing duty, the police said.

According to the police, the protesters had set ablaze a private car parked at Subhash Marg area on Friday evening. The fire was immediately doused.

Forty persons were detained in connection with the protest and subsequent violence. Out of them, eight minors were released early on Saturday.

Ten of the people arrested were among those who were detained, the police said, adding that there is a likelihood of more arrests in the matter.

Family members wait outside police station

Meanwhile, waiting outside a police station in Old Delhi, a family member of one of the 15 people arrested in connection with the protest, said, “My son-in-law had come to drop his wife near Daryaganj but was arrested for being involved in the violence.”

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 have been waiting with bated breath to hear about their loved ones. There was a heavy deployment of Central Reserve Police Force personnel outside the police station, where the entry of outsiders was barred on Saturday.

Mukir saw his father being detained by police on a TV channel.

“My father, who is aged 60, works at a welding shop in the area. He had come out after hearing about the commotion. But I saw two policemen taking him away on TV channels,” he said.

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. PTI