Violence over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) continued to escalate in North East Delhi on Tuesday taking the death toll to 13 as police struggled to check the rioters who ran amok on streets, burning and looting shops, pelting stones and thrashing people.
After overnight incidents of arson, tension smouldered in the national capital and as the day progressed streets in several localities like Chand Bagh, Bhajanpura, Gokulpuri, Maujpur, Kardampuri and Jaffrabad saw pitched battles between the members of two groups who also hurled petrol bombs and opened fire.
Over 200 people, including 48 police personnel, have been injured and half of the civilians have suffered gunshot wounds, according to hospital authorities.
In a statement, Delhi Police said, "56 police personal got injured [in the Delhi violence]. We lost one jawan. Our two IPS officials also got injured. A total of 130 civilian got injured in stone-pelting."
Earlier, it was reported that the Delhi Police told the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that it did not have adequate forces to control the northeast Delhi violence immediately, which led to the situation getting aggravated.
However, Delhi Commissioner of Police, Amulya Patnaik rejected the news and said the ministry was continually supporting the security forces.
"Some news agency ran the news that Delhi Police said that it has not got adequate forces from the MHA. This information is wrong. MHA is continually supporting us and we have adequate forces. Delhi Police denies this completely," DCP Amulya Patnaik said.
There is no dearth of police jawans, we have got additional force from the MHA, Delhi Police said.
Read More:Protests against citizenship act, death toll rose to 13 in India
Police also said that they are taking the help of drones to identify the miscreants and monitor the situation. "11 FIRs have been registered and strong action will be taken against the miscreants," Mandeep Randhawa, Delhi Police spokesperson, said.
Mandeep Randhawa also said the situation in northeast Delhi was "under control", even as several parts of the national capital continued to reel under violence.
Meanwhile, a high alert has been sounded in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow following violent clashes over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in parts of Delhi, a police official said on Tuesday. Section 144 has been imposed in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad over continued violence in Delhi.
Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujeet Pandey said the additional force has been deployed in Ghantaghar area where women and others have been staging a protest against the CAA for the past one month. "Though there is no report of people from other parts of the state reaching the state capital, a high alert has been sounded as a precautionary measure," Sujeet Pandey said.
The Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to hear an application, filed by former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and others, seeking direction to the police to lodge FIRs on the complaints regarding the ongoing violence in Delhi over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
