Scuffle over cricket match in Mehrauli becomes full blown confrontation between two groups

A cricket match between youngsters in South Delhi's Mehrauli area almost turned into a full-blown confrontation between two religious groups on Saturday.

Soon after the confrontation, a protest was organised against the alleged delay by police in arresting the youth – many of whom belonged to a minority community.

Later, the Station House Officer (SHO), additional SHO, a sub-inspector and a constable from Mehrauli police station were sent to District Police Lines on Sunday.

Police have not given an official reason for not taking any action.

However, highly placed sources in the South District told Millennium Post that the decision was taken after mounting pressure from top officials.

The cricket match was being played at a DDA Park located in Mehrauli. "The ground is used by people from all communities. There was a minor argument between two groups and eventually the adults got involved," said a senior police official from South District.

Police have claimed that one group of people were affiliated with a Hindu religious group, who had claimed that the youths from the minority community were not allowing the former to establish their branch at the park, in which several youth from the religious group conduct physical exercises.

After the cricket match turned into a confrontation between the two groups, members from the Hindu religious outfit gathered outside Mehrauli police station and demanded the immediate arrest of the members of the minority community.

"They were making unreasonable demands. They wanted us to immediately arrest the youths. We tried to calm them down by saying that a complaint must be registered first before taking any action. They claimed that we were going soft on the youth and soon started protesting," said a police officer who witnessed the protest.

As the crowd began to gather, SHO Vikramjeet Singh and additional SHO Kundan Kumar tried to reason with the protestors.

The protestors, meanwhile, later alleged that the police officials had assaulted them. "We were protesting and the police officials snatched our camera phone and chased us. Some of our men were also beaten up," said Jayaveer, a protestor.

The police, however, have a different story to tell. An official from Mehrauli police station said that Delhi BJP general secretary Gajender Singh, flanked by members of the religious outfit, was mounting pressure to take action against the police officials and the youths. "Many of the (religious) group members had openly issued threats to us. They were saying that they can end our careers in an instant," said the policeman.

The protests followed into the night. Senior police officials had thought that they could contain the protests and an understanding can be reached. "They just did not understand that an arbitrary arrest without due procedure of law cannot be made. Instead, they took action against hardworking policemen," said the senior official.