A group of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) activists on Sunday tried to stage a protest demanding removal of Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence and were detained.
The activists reached Dr. Singh’s 7-Race Course Road residence and tried to break the barricades to enter the high-security premises as their party served an “ultimatum” to the government to remove Mr. Kumar by this evening.
Around 5 p.m., the activists tried to enter the premises but were prevented by security personnel, including Rapid Action Force. The activists were detained and taken to a nearby police station.
At a function in the morning, the Prime Minister said there was a need to make “vast improvements” to ensure women’s safety in the country and asked people to work collectively to uproot such depravity from the society. “The gruesome assault on a little child a few days back reminds us of the need to work collectively to root out this sort of depravity from our society,” Dr. Singh said.
Earlier in the day, an AAP spokesperson said the party served an “ultimatum” to the government to remove Mr. Kumar by 5 p.m. “If he is not removed, we will march towards Prime Minister’s residence,” the spokesperson said.
The AAP activists were holding protests in front of Delhi Police Headquarters for the past two days demanding the removal of the Commissioner. Protesters were also demanding arrest of policemen who were accused of delaying the registration of a case and offering money to hush up the matter.
The five-year-old girl was raped allegedly by a 22-year-old married man on the ground floor of the building where the girl and her family too stayed. Police had put up barricades to keep the protesters away from the headquarters and protesters spilled over to the Vikas Marg.
The protesters at Police Headquarters who tried to march towards Prime Minister’s residence were stopped by personnel at ITO as soon as they started.
Police erected barricades at ITO which led to stoppage of vehicular movement from Vikas Marg to Connaught Place.
The protesters tore pamphlets distributed by police appealing for calm.
A large number of police personnel were deployed at ITO and near Police Headquarters.
