Security forces patrol central Delhi amid AAP call for protest at Shaheedi Park
New Delhi (PTI): Security personnel continue to patrol central Delhi on Saturday amid a call by the AAP to gather at Shaheedi Park to protest against the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with an excise policy-linked money-laundering case.
Delhi Minister Gopal Rai said all AAP MLAs, councillors and office-bearers, and INDIA bloc representatives will gather at Shaheedi Park at 10 am on Saturday -- the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev -- and take a pledge to save democracy.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will also attend the programme, Rai said.
Delhi Police officials said roads leading to Shaheedi Park have yet to be shut but may be closed depending on the situation.
"If they try to march or hold a protest, action will be taken," a senior officer said.
Traffic may also be hit in parts of central Delhi due to heavy barricading and police deployment.
A local court on Friday remanded Kejriwal in the Enforcement Directorate's custody till March 28 "for his detailed and sustained interrogation" regarding his role in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, two ministers in the Kejriwal ministry, were detained on Friday while protesting against the BJP over the chief minister's arrest.
The two ministers and others were taken away in police buses after they refused to disperse from the ITO intersection, which is near the headquarters of the AAP and the BJP and where prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are in force.
Shaheedi Park, located at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, is about a kilometre from the BJP's headquarters at DDU Marg to which the AAP leaders wanted to march and hold a protest on Friday.
They were stopped at ITO Chowk.
A police officer said paramilitary personnel, along with those from the police, will remain deployed around the BJP headquarters.
"We may shut the roads and the metro stations, depending on the situation," the officer said.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Central) Parmaditya said security personnel will continue to remain deployed in central Delhi.
AAP leaders said effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be burnt in all assembly constituencies of Delhi on Sunday.
Party workers will not celebrate Holi on Monday, they said and called for a "gherao" of the prime minister's residence on Tuesday.
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Flagrant injustice to underprivileged: Mehbooba on govt action against Shopian school
Srinagar (PTI): PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said declaring Dar Ul Uloom Jamia Siraj Ul Uloom in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian an unlawful entity under the UAPA was a "flagrant injustice" to the underprivileged sections of society.
She also alleged that banning such "altruistic institutions" without any solid evidence of anti-national activity "shows a deep seated prejudice and ill intention".
The institution allegedly run by individuals affiliated with a banned organisation has been declared an "unlawful entity" under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
In a post on X, Mehbooba said, "Every single day the j&k government acts as a mute bystander & a timid enabler of vicious assaults on J&Ks identity & dignity. Declaring Dar Ul Uloom Jamia Siraj Ul Uloom as an unlawful entity under UAPA is a flagrant injustice to the poor underprivileged sections of society".
The former chief minister said the institution served as a "beacon of quality education" for students unable to afford expensive schooling.
"It has produced reputed doctors and professionals who served this nation with dedication. Banning these altruistic institutions without any solid evidence of anti national activity shows a deep seated prejudice & ill intention," she added.
Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Anshul Garg issued a two-page order based on the dossier presented by Senior Superintendent of Police Shopian pointing towards the alleged illegal activities at Darul Uloom Jamia Sirajul Uloom at Imam Sahib in Shopian district in south Kashmir.
According to the order issued by Garg on April 24, there were "credible inputs and evidence on record, to indicate sustained and covert linkages of the institution with Jamaat-e-Islami, which the Government of India banned in 2019.
