Delhi minorities body requests LG to allow peace protests

 The Delhi Minorities Commission has written to the Lt. Governor Anil Baijal requesting him to allow people to protest and demonstrate peacefully.

The Delhi Minorities Commission(DMC), in the letter made public on Friday, requested the LG that the police must not interfere unless and until a protest and demonstration becomes "violent".

It also said that the attacks by the Delhi police on protesters since December 15 were a direct attack on the democratic and civil rights protected by the Constitution.

The letter was written to LG, in his capacity as the constitutional head of Delhi Police.

The DMC urged him to order Delhi Police Commissioner and other officers of the force "to allow people to protest and demonstrate peacefully and that they must not interfere unless and until a protest and demonstration becomes violent."

It said the attacks by the police on the protesters were a direct attack on the democratic and civil rights protected by the Constitution.

"Role of the police and security forces starts only when a protest becomes violent."

The DMC has also issued an order to Delhi Police Commissioner to set free all the arrestees unconditionally unless they were involved in violence in the national capital.

The order, released on Thursday and made public on Friday, was issued following information reaching the DMC that eminent personalities like Harsh Mander, Prashant Bhushan, John Dayal and former MP Sandeep Dixit have been "arrested" by the police alongwith hundreds of peaceful protesters and taken to many different directions, the DMC informed.

"Delhi Police or the Administration have no right to stop people from registering their peaceful protests against a government measure deemed illegal and unconstitutional by millions of people across the country," read the order.IANS