Delhi Police on Friday refuted the allegation of laticharge on yoga guru Ramdev and his supporters at the Ramlila Maidan but justified its midnight crackdown on the protesters saying permission had been given only to hold a yoga camp.
In its affidavit filed before the court, the city police claimed that no force was used against them and only eight shells of tear gas were fired on Ramdev's supporters after they turned violent and started pelting stones on the cops.
Justifying its action, police said the authorities had allowed permission to Ramdev to use the ground only to hold yoga camp and not for any other purpose.
It said that instead of holding yoga camp, Ramdev was instigating the crowd during his fast on the issue of corruption and black money at the ground where more than 20,000 people had gathered.
The city police had filed the response following a direction of the apex court which took suo motu cognisance of the crack down and had directed it to explain why it resorted to such action against Ramdev and his supporters.
The apex court had expressed concern over the "police atrocities" and use of "brutal force" to disperse the "innocent" people gathered at the site.
The court had also taken note of articles and reports published in national dailies depicting the "sad state of affairs and brutality of the state in dealing with its innocent citizens".
The court had issued notices to the Union Home Secretary, the Delhi Chief Secretary and the Delhi Police Commissioner asking them to respond within two weeks about the circumstances that led to the operation.
The police in its response said the ground was cleared on the intervening night of June 4 and 5 to prevent any untoward incident because more than 20,000 people had gathered there beyond the capacity of the ground which is around 8-10 thousand.
The Police had earlier cited "provocative" speeches made by religious and political leaders, including Ramdev and Sadhvi Ritambara, as the main reason for cancelling permission for the yoga guru's protest at Ramlila Maidan.
It had alleged that Ramdev and his associates refused to accept the letter cancelling permission for his camp and dared senior officials to do "whatever they wanted" to do.
In the FIR filed at Kamla Market police station following the police crackdown at Ramlila Maidan, police said though they had sought permission only for 5,000 people, the organisers had installed 800 toilets, numerous booster pumps and set up a 40-bed hospital inside the Maidan.
"On June four morning, the yoga session led by Ramdev went on for three hours and it took the colour of a rally due to the presence of Sadhvi Ritambara, Maulana Kalbe Jabbar, Akali Dal leader Omkar Singh Thapar and other religious and political leaders and these leaders made "provocative" speeches.
"They urged people to intensify their protest and said if their demands were not met, they will not move out of the Maidan. Keeping their activities in view, senior officials held consultation and decided to cancel the permission for the camp," Surinder Jeet Kaur, the Station House Officer of Kamla
Market, said in the FIR which was annexed to the affidavit.
At around 12:30 am, Kaur said, police went to meet Ramdev and his associates Balkrishna, Virendra Vikram and Swami Sampoornanand who refused to accept the letter cancelling the permission.
None of his followers listened to police requests to stay calm, Kaur said, adding police resorted to using water canons to disperse the crowd, which had some effect. However, they gathered together with "renewed vigour" and began pelting stones.
"The followers and office-bearers of Bharat Swabhiman Trust gathered there and using dangerous substances attacked police and obstructed the functioning of public servants leading to injuries to policemen. Their act also resulted in damage to private and public property. They created a riot
situation in a public place," the FIR said.
