Bharat Bandh: Traffic chaos in Lutyens' Delhi over Dalit protests

The traffic in Lutyen’s Delhi was halted for several hours when hundreds of people held a protest march against the dilution of the SC/ST Act on Monday.

The protesters gathered at Mandi House opposing the Supreme Court order banning automatic arrest and registration of cases for alleged harassment of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

“They blocked the road outside the Mandi House Metro Station, bringing traffic to a standstill as commuters faced inconvenience while travelling towards ITO and other stretches. The protesters also blocked one of the carriageways of Barakhamba Road affecting the traffic on the stretch,” a senior police official said.

The police have also curtailed the traffic movement on Sansad Marg from Patel Chowk to Jantar Mantar.

Several Dalit organisations had called for a 'Bharat Bandh' across the country on Monday. There were protests at Mohammadpur in RK Puram and Jharera village in the Delhi Cantonement area, but no violence was reported.

The Supreme Court had on March 20 diluted certain provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, in a bid to protect 'honest' public servants discharging bona fide duties from being blackmailed with false cases under the Act.

The verdict is being widely criticised by the Dalits and the Opposition who claim that the dilution of the Act will lead to more discrimination and crime against the backward community.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal extended the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s support to the Dalit groups protesting against the alleged dilution of its provisions. “Under the situation resulting due to Supreme Court's decision on SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, AAP is with the movement of SC/ST community. Central government should deploy top lawyers for the petition in the Supreme Court and the need and fundamental intent of the Act should be preserved (sic),” he tweeted.