Four men claiming to be members of the right-wing Hindu Raksha Dal have been arrested for allegedly assaulting students and pushing and hitting women on Delhi’s DDU Marg during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest on October 10, police said on Sunday.
The arrests came a day after a purported video of the incident went viral on social media, showing them assaulting young students and physically manhandling women on a stretch of DDU Marg falling under the jurisdiction of Kamla Market police station The footage also shows a police personnel at the spot as the incident occurred.
The assault came amid widespread detentions during the protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The accused have been identified as Raman Saini, 50, Vivekanand alias Vivek, 32, Kapil Kumar, 27, and Ravinder Singh alias Govind Hindu, 35, a senior police officer said.
According to police sources, the footage began circulating in social media groups on the first day of the protest, when students were attempting to assemble at different locations in the national capital. However, the precise location of the incident was not immediately established.
Security personnel deployed across the city subsequently identified the spot during verification and checks carried out amid the security arrangements for the protest, the sources said.
Police said no formal complaint had been received in connection with the incident. However, the force acted on its own after the video came to its notice and confidential inputs indicated that the men allegedly involved could attempt to leave the Delhi-NCR region to evade action.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the incident, police traced the four men and arrested them, the senior officer said.
The video has since been widely shared across social media platforms, including by handles associated with political organisations and figures.
Accounts linked to the Indian Youth Congress, the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the CJP have also circulated the footage.
The incident comes amid heightened security and a large-scale police crackdown on protesters who gathered in different parts of Delhi on October 10, with thousands detained during the demonstrations.
