A large group of people on Thursday took out a march amid heavy security deployment in Jahangirpuri here on Ram Navami in contravention of rules following which riot control force was deployed to prevent any untoward incident, police said.
The Delhi Police had denied permission for holding the “Shree Ram Bhagwan Pratima Yatra” as part of Ram Navami mahotsav in the area where violence broke out last year during a Hanuman Jayanti procession. The group gathered at a park in the northwest Delhi locality and performed puja there, a senior police officer said.
“We deployed local police personnel, riot control force along with four companies of other forces to ensure law and order is maintained and no untoward incident takes place. The situation remained under control and people cooperated,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Jitendra Meena said paramilitary forces were also deployed in the area and the event passed off peacefully.
“We also conducted Aman committee meetings in the area. The organisers were advised to cut short their route to 100 metres to which they agreed and the program passed off peacefully,” he said.
Police also closed some streets in the area for security reasons. While police said that around 500 people attended the procession, the organisers claimed “thousands” of people had participated.
According to police, the procession started at 11.30 am and concluded around 1 pm. A total of seven processions, including the one in Jahangirpuri, were taken out in the northwest district.
Sachin Sharma alias Mohit Sanatani, Delhi Pradesh President of Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Yuva Morcha, said, “We took out the procession as a symbol of peace. We applied for permission around a month ago, however, it was denied by police citing law and order situation.
“We were preparing for the programme and two days ago, a written communication was received that the permission had been denied. We had a plan to cover four to five kilometres in the Jahangirpuri area, but it was restricted to around 200 metres,” he said.