No major incident in North East Delhi in last 36 hours, over 500 held for questioning: MHA

No major incident was reported from the North East district of the national capital in the last 36 hours, the Union Home Ministry said late on Thursday evening, adding that 514 suspects were either arrested or detained for questioning. The ministry issued a statement around 10 PM after Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the situation in the violence-hit parts of the city in a meeting with seniors officials and the top police brass.

The ministry stated that the situation is slowly returning to normal and the prohibitory orders under Section 144 will be relaxed for a total of 10 hours on Friday in view of the improvement in the ground situation. Till now, 48 FIRs, pertaining to clashes, loss of lives or property, etc., have already been registered and further FIRs would be registered in due course. Further arrests would also be effected in the course of the investigation. 

The Delhi Police has separately set up two SITs for investigating serious offences. Nearly 7,000 Central Para-Military Forces have been deployed in the affected areas of North-East District since February 24. Besides, Delhi Police has also deployed three Special CPs, six Joint CPs, one Additional CP, 22 DCPs, 20 ACPs, 60 Inspectors, 1,200 other ranks and 200 Lady Police under the overall supervision of Commissioner of Police to effectively guide and supervise Police response so as to contain and normalise the situation. 

The MHA citizens have been requested not to lay credence to any rumour. Delhi Police has set up helplines--22829334 and 22829335--for round-the-clock assistance. 

"Two Security personnel sacrificed their lives in the line of duty to restore law and order. Besides, nearly 70 Police personnel and senior officers have been injured in these unfortunate incidents.  Adequate steps have been taken to ensure medical support to the injured," added the MHA.

"As a confidence-building measure among different sections of the society, Delhi Police has started holding Peace Committee Meetings across Delhi to normalise the situation and improve inter-community harmony. Such Peace Committee Meetings would continue till situation normalises. So far, nearly 330 Peace Committee Meetings have been organised in various districts of Delhi in the last two days. Apart from this, meeting with Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) and Market Welfare Associations (MWA) have also been convened in several areas. Such Peace Committee/RWA/MWA has been attended by different sections of the society including Civil Society Groups, representatives of different political parties including Congress, AAP, BJP, etc.," added the Ministry.

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has already initiated steps to clean the streets and repair damaged public properties in riot-affected areas. Other civic agencies are also ensuring the civic amenities to the citizens is restored as soon as possible. Movement of traffic on the highway and connecting roads is returning to normal. 

12 Police Stations out of the 203 PSs in Delhi (about 4.2% of the geographical area) have been affected by these riots, while normalcy and communal harmony has prevailed elsewhere in the national capital.