A heated exchange between representatives of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party during a televised debate snowballed into a violent clash in South-East Delhi’s Tughlakabad on Saturday evening.
Referring to it as a scuffle, the police said over a dozen volunteers from either side sustained minor injuries during the incident and a vehicle registered in the name of an AAP volunteer was torched. A senior police officer said cross cases have been registered in relation to the incident.
“It was a minor scuffle between members from either side during a debate on local issues organised by a Hindi news channel at a public park here,” said a police officer.
“Adequate deployment was in place to keep the situation from escalating out of control and the injured were rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. We have registered separate criminal cases under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code against both parties. Investigation is under way,” the officer added.
The Delhi Police, which had imposed an informal ban on screening of televised debates at public places during the Lok Sabha elections last year citing law and order issues, are now mulling imposing similar restrictions even before the Assembly elections in Delhi.
“Delhi is on high alert in the run-up to the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama on Republic Day later this month and such episodes are the last thing we need,” a senior police officer said.
“On Monday, we plan to take a call on banning these events but instructions have been issued to officers in-charge of districts to be extremely cautious in granting permission for such events till then,” the officer added.
Events such as the one where the clash broke out on Saturday legally qualify as public gatherings. Under the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC), the organisers of such events must seek permission of the local police in-charge in addition to fulfilling a number of other conditions including a guarantee that the said gathering would not impact the law and order situation of the area.
On their part, the police can restrict such events through the imposition of section 144 of the Cr.PC which outlaws gatherings with over five persons.
