Delhi CP ahead of farmers' tractor march: Law, order will not be allowed to be disturbed

Ahead of farmers' unions tractor march to Parliament during the winter session, Delhi Commissioner of Police Rakesh Asthana said that nobody is objecting to democratic protests but under no circumstances will the law and order be allowed to be disturbed.

"We are committed to maintaining law and order...There's an agreement (with farmers), we will work on it. But in no case will law and order be allowed to be disturbed. Nobody is objecting to democratic protests," the Delhi CP said while addressing media at an interaction organised by the Indian Women's Press Corps on Wednesday.

Earlier, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait had said that 60 tractors will head to the Parliament in the national capital on November 29 as a part of the tractor march to press for a statutory guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops among other things.

He has also said that a thousand farmers will head to the Parliament.

On cases registered in view of farmers' agitation, the police commissioner informed that a total of seven cases were registered before his joining and some were registered afterwards.

"Farmers' agitation underway for a long time. Before my joining, 7 cases were lodged particularly on the Republic Day incident and some were lodged afterwards. We have investigated those cases, they are charge-sheeted," he said. 

Asthana further stressed that the safety of women and children is the police's top priority. 

"Crime against women and children is our topmost priority. We have six DCPs, eight ACPs, and nine SHOs who are women - they have been placed in areas where women-related problems are anticipated. The approach is to treat such cases with expeditious attention," he said.

"We have strengthened beat patrolling; a major step has been merger of PCR with police stations, resulting in reduced response time. This particular change has brought about good results in street crime - snatching, though will take time to settle down," he added. 

Asthana further said expressed hope that the percentage of women in police will increase by 2025. 

"By 2025, hopefully, there will be 25 per cent women in the Police force, right now it is 13 per cent...As per the Government of India's directive, 33 per cent of women should be there in the police force, so we are working on it," he said.

(ANI)