This Article is From Mar 11, 2020

Delhi Clashes Lasted 36 Hours, Thank Police For Bringing Peace: Amit Shah

Amit Shah said the first information about the violence came around 2 pm on February 24, the last at 11 pm on February 25.

Union home minister Amit Shah responded to the discussion on Delhi violence in the Lok Sabha today.

New Delhi:

The Delhi Police have done a commendable job during last month's violence, confining the violence to 4 per cent of the city's area, 13 per cent of its population and ending it within 36 hours, Union home minister Amit Shah said today. The government, he said, would ensure that no one responsible for the violence would go scot free.

The minister also hit out at the Congress, saying given its track record, especially during the anti-Sikh riots if 1984, it had no right to question the BJP regarding the fresh violence.

The violence -- which started in northeast Delhi's Jaffrabad as a clash between those protesting between the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and those supporting it -- has cost more than 50 lives.

The opposition Congress, which for days have been demanding a discussion on the issue in parliament, alleged that the violence continued for days because of the inaction by the Delhi Police.

The Congress claimed the Delhi Police was taking orders from the Union home ministry, to which it reports.

Mr Shah said the first information about the violence came around 2 pm on February 24, the last at 11 pm on February 25.

"I would like to place on record that after 25th February, no incident of rioting took place. There have been attempts to politicise these riots," he added, while responding to the discussion on the violence, which the opposition has been demanding since last week.

He also said that he was personally monitoring the situation, sitting along with the police and did not attend any of the events connected to the visit of US President Donald Trump.

"MPs raised doubts about what the police were doing. It is the opposition's right to question. But when the police were trying to control the riots, struggling with violence, we should understand," he said, to hoots of derision from the opposition.

Mr Shah said the government had asked people for video footage of the violence. "We have received thousands of videos. We are using Face identification to find accused. It is a software so it does not differentiate on the basis of religion," he said.

The software, he said, has helped identify 1,100 people. "We have also identified 300 people who came from UP," he added.

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