EXCLUSIVE Jahangirpuri Riots: VHP sought Delhi Police permission for Hanuman Jayanti procession

Categorically rejecting Delhi Police’s claim that the third Hanuman Jayanti procession, which was attacked by a mob armed with sticks, swords, firearms and brick-bats, at Jahangirpuri had not taken police permission, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said cops were trying to “save its own skin”.

“The Delhi Police is just trying to save its own skin in this fiasco. They have even arrested innocent Hindus whose property was attacked and who only resorted to self-defence. Will they deprive Hindus of the right to defend themselves?” VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain told Firstpost.

The RSS-affiliate also shared with Firstpost the permission request submitted to the police and also its receipt. “We have the receipt of the permission request after submitting it,” said Jain.

“The usual practice in Delhi Police is that when they have to deny permission, they categorically and in writing intimate the party asking for permission for processions. In another instance we had asked for permission for a Hanuman Jayanti Shobha Yatra in Shahdara’s Krishna Nagar on 18 April, but it was rejected and we did not carry out the procession. Point being, the Delhi Police had intimated the rejection in writing, which it did not in the case of the Hanuman Jayanti Shobha Yatra in Jahangirpuri,” Jain added.

Earlier, Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana had said that the procession that sparked violence had not taken permission.

Firstpost has accessed both the Jahangirpuri permission receipt as well as the rejection from the Delhi Police of the procession request in Krishna Nagar.

The VHP functionary also told Firstpost that the DCP of the Delhi Police had “prior inkling” of possible attack on the procession. “Our delegation was told that we should not take out the Hanuman Jayanti Shobha Yatra in Jahangirpuri through some routes as they are communally ‘sensitive’. We asked them to give us the list of such routes in writing, which they did not. We are against any such distinction between ‘sensitive’ or ‘non-sensitive’; this is India and we can take our procession from anywhere,” Jain added.

The VHP contended that if the route was sensitive and that the police had prior information of possible communal attacks on the Hindu procession by the minority community, why did it not provide adequate security in the area.

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