[Analytics] Capital chaos: Why Delhi Police has looked listless in containing rioters

The Delhi Police has an expertise in tracking down burglars, rapists and murderers with relative swiftness given these crimes are either large in numbers in Delhi or get intense media focus building immense pressure on the force. In contrast, the Delhi Police has little experience of tackling mob violence or communal clashes. Prabhash K Dutta specially for the India Today.

ou learn management from mismanagement, goes a saying in corporate offices. Doctors working in government hospitals generally turn out to be better at diagnosing ailments because they are exposed to a variety of patients and in a very large number. The basic rule here is practice makes one perfect.

Does the Delhi Police lack this practical experience as it seemingly failed to curb communal violence in the national capital?

Not till long ago, the Delhi Police was hailed as a model police force – only by the standards of police sensitivity in India — for its efficiency and professionalism. But this impression emanates from the kind of crimes that the Delhi Police deals with.

In contrast, the Delhi Police has little experience of tackling mob violence or communal clashes. If you speak to foot-soldiers of Delhi Police, most of them would tell you that they have never handled a communal riot or large scale mob violence. Some reports point out that even the top brass of the Delhi Police does not have the relevant experience.

Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik too has more experience in administration, vigilance or special wings than in the field. Many have raised questions over his leadership during recent instances of mob violence including attack by a band of lawyers on police personnel, rioting by anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters in Jamia Nagar of Delhi and also during the attack by masked men inside JNU campus.

The inexperience in the Delhi Police – both at top level and in the ranks of ground control – was evident in the manner they police force dealt with the mob violence. It went after the rioters chasing them down to Jamia Milia Islamia campus and beating up whosoever came their way without making a distinction between the students studying in library or a stone-pelter.

Facing criticism for its Jamia action, the police force practically played a mute spectator when JNU hostels came under attack by goons carrying sticks and rods. Earlier, the police personnel had to resort to civil protest against their own leadership after a band of lawyers entered Tees Hazari police station and thrash the policepersons up.

Before communal violence broke out in North East Delhi, the Delhi Police had received flak for the way it dealt with miscreants brandishing gun near Shaheen Bagh – the site of anti-CAA protest in Delhi – and a couple of them actually firing shots.

A posse of police force was seen standing casually not knowing that the situation warranted an urgent and quick action lest someone got hurt. In the ongoing violence in North East Delhi, a man came broke out from his group and started firing. The police personnel were present near but just one policeman holding a baton approached the gunman in a rather casual way. He was pushed aside by the gun-wielding man, who fired eight shots.

The protests over CAA took a communal turn early this week in a radius of around 5km — between Bhajanpura and Seelampur – in the North East Delhi, which is represented in the Lok Sabha by Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari.

The communal violence that has left 20 people dead is the first instance of such large scale arson, attack and disturbance since 1992 following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Uttar Pradesh. The previous instance was the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, when Delhi saw communal madness for days.

Almost the entire crop of Delhi Police is with zero experience in dealing with such communal frenzy. This explains why the Union home ministry ordered premature repatriation of IPS officer SN Shrivastava from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to Delhi Police appointing him as the Special Commissioner (Law and Order). Shrivastava is, however, tipped to be the Delhi Police chief after extended tenure of incumbent Amulya Patnaik ends this month.

Also, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval suddenly took charge of the situation late Tuesday night. NSA Doval not only held meetings with the police officers but also visited the affected areas during the night.

Stepping in by Doval signals involvement of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) at a time when the Delhi Police has appeared inadequately prepared to restore normalcy in the riot-affected North East Delhi.
To its credit, the same Delhi Police has been successful in “nipping in the bud” crises in recent past.

In 2014, communal clashes broke out in Trilokpuri area of Delhi on the night of Diwali when a group organised a Mata Ki Chowki (a musical prayer event) near a mosque. The two groups clashed over the use of loudspeaker leading to stone-pelting. But the Delhi Police responded swiftly involving elders from communities who controlled the rioters. Later, the police formed Aman committees which have been instrumental in defusing such tense situations, doing the job for the Delhi Police.

In 2016, communal clashes broke out in Sangam Park area of Model Town in North West Delhi over alleged molestation of a Valmiki community girl. The accused belonged to another religious community. Clashes erupted again in the area in 2018. But police involved local elders to control the situation quite early.

In 2019, a temple was vandalised in central Delhi that led to communal clashes but again the elders from the communities helped the Delhi Police restore peace. In all such cases, however, the situation did not actually assume the scale it did in the North East Delhi. The current communal clashes have put the law and order maintenance skills of the Delhi Police to fierce test.

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