New Delhi: AAP MLAs staged a protest near Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena's office on Thursday, decrying the "declining" law and order in the national capital. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators marched from the Assembly to the Raj Niwas to meet Saxena without any prior appointment and sat on a dharna outside his office after the security personnel denied them entry.
"Do some work LG sahab, pay attention to the law-and-order situation of Delhi," they shouted with placards in hands outside Saxena's office. The agitating MLAs listed out recent incidents of crime in the national capital, including an incident in which a 16-year-old girl was shot at in south Delhi's Sangam Vihar, and accused the LG of being ignorant to his responsibility of maintaining the city's law and order.
"All the MLAs have come here to meet the LG, discuss the declining law-and order situation in Delhi with him and hand over a memorandum," AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj told reporters. He said there has been a huge rise in the number of incidents of crime against women in the national capital, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Asked if a prior appointment was sought with the LG, the Greater Kailash MLA said, "We had informed them (the LG office). He (LG) can meet us.... We can wait here if he wants." AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan accused the BJP-led Centre of not being able to control crime in Delhi. "The BJP is not able to control crime in Delhi. The crime rate is increasing here and the Centre is sitting silently. The LG is acting at the behest of his top leadership," he charged. It is the LG's responsibility to meet the MLAs of Delhi, Khan said.
The Delhi Police urged the MLAs to vacate the spot as prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were in force in the area and hence, no such protest could be held there. "You are law-abiding citizens. Section 144 is imposed here. If you do not move, we will be bound to move you from here," the police repeatedly announced. As the agitating MLAs refused to relent, the police detained them and took them away in a bus. "MLAs of Delhi went to meet Hon LG about NCRB report on deteriorating law and order in Delhi. And how school girl of Sangam Vihar was shot even after complaining to police. On LG orders, we were arrested," Bharadwaj said in a tweet later. (PTI)
