Heavy police deployment in Shaheen Bagh as precautionary measure

NEW DELHI: Delhi police made a heavy deployment of security personnel in southeast Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area, where several women have been leading a protest on the road against the new citizenship law for more than two months, as a precautionary measure on Sunday, officials said.
The police deployment has come after a fringe right-wing group, Hindu Sena, gave a call to clear the Shaheen Bagh road on March 1. However on Saturday, with the intervention of police, they called off their proposed protest against the anti-CAA agitation in Shaheen Bagh.

Police also said that Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code was imposed in Shaheen Bagh area near Jamia Millia Islamia.

Section 144 empowers an executive magistrate to issue orders in case nuisance or danger to public peace is apprehended.

"The proposed protest call was cancelled with timely intervention. But as a precautionary measure, we have made heavy police deployment here," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) RP Meena said.

Twelve companies, including two of female forces, have been deployed in Shaheen Bagh, 100 men each from four police districts have also been deployed along with the local police, the official said.

The Hindu Sena said in a statement police pressured them to call off their protest on Sunday against the Shaheen Bagh agitation.

Shaheen Bagh, near Jamia Millia Islamia, has been a protest venue for a section of people opposed to the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens since December 15 last year.

Violent demonstrations have rocked the country since December 12 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government enacted the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which aims to grant citizenship to six-non-Muslim minorities - Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Jain, Christian and Buddhist - who migrated to India on or before December 31, 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.