People march cops to police station for surprise raid

Tension prevailed in south Delhi’s Jamia Nagar after a team of the Delhi Police in plain clothes was forced to go to the local police station after the local people objected to a raid conducted on Thursday, ahead of Independence Day.

The team of south west Delhi district police’s special staff was there to nab an accused wanted in an FIR registered regarding illegal firearms recovered by Dwarka South police station.

On Tuesday, the police had recovered 110 Germany-made blank firing pistols from a Tata Nano car during checking in Dwarka Sector-8. A search revealed a jute bag lying on the back seat containing the pistols. Two occupants of the car had been detained.

The police said the duo revealed that they had bought the consignment from a man named Mohsin, a resident of Zakir Nagar in Jamia Nagar. Accordingly, the 10-member police team went to Gali Number 9 and 12 in Zakir Nagar at around 11:30 am on Thursday.

Local people said the police team conducted a door-to-door search, which created ruckus in the neighbourhood. “They also detained a youth, but let him go when the residents demanded evidence against him,” said Amanatullah Khan, a local.

The detained youth was later identified as a final-year engineering student of Jamia Millia Islamia.

“Such raids are common in Jamia Nagar and we feared that someone innocent would be arrested ahead of Independence Day for police to claim that they had foiled a terror plot. Several innocent youths being arrested in the past has made us lose faith in security agencies,” he added.

Amanatullah said he informed the local police, after which it was revealed that the police team had not informed them before conducting the raid. Another local named Afroz Alam Sah said the policemen were not following specific guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in D K Basu case while making arrests.

“None of the policemen were in uniform, and when we asked them to show their ID cards, only one of them was found carrying an ID,” he said.

The principles clearly state that police personnel carrying out arrest and handling interrogation of the arrested should bear accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags with their designations.

Locals later filed a written complaint at Jamia Nagar police station, which has been forwarded to the office of Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police (South West) Suman Goyal.
“The police team did not inform us before conducting the raid. We have faced similar situations earlier, when the raiding teams did not inform the local police,” said an officer at Jamia Nagar police station.