22 NABBED FOR USING PEPPER SPRAY ON COPS

DELHI Police has arrested 22 people for allegedly refusing to disperse from the C-Hexagon at India Gate, using chilli spray on police personnel, obstructing officials from performing their duties, and blocking the road during a protest over the worsening air quality in the national capital.

- NITIN RAWAT @New Delhi

Two cases have been registered— one at Parliament Street and another at Kartavya Path police station. Six men were arrested under BNS sections in the case registered at Kartavya Path, with the remaining arrests linked to the Parliament Street case.

A police officer said the protesters had gathered at India Gate on Sunday. They were told that the location was not a designated protest site. “They were asked not to protest here since people come to visit India Gate with their families.” Despite the warning, the officer said, the group broke down the barricades erected to ease pedestrian traffic and moved onto the C-Hexagon.

As traffic slowed, police asked them to move so that vehicles could pass. But, the officer said, when police tried to remove them, “they manhandled police, and some of them even used chilly spray on police personnel”.