Police officers from Delhi who travelled to Himachal Pradesh to arrest three political activists over a protest at a technology summit have themselves been booked by local police, following a standoff that lasted nearly 24 hours.
The Delhi team arrived before dawn on Wednesday in Rohru, near Shimla, to detain three members of the Indian Youth Congress over an incident at the India AI Impact Summit held in the capital from 16 to 20 February. The protest took place on the final day, when demonstrators removed their jackets to reveal t-shirts showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the slogan “PM is compromised”.
The Delhi police registered an FIR citing rioting, criminal conspiracy and unlawful assembly. The three men were arrested at a resort and a digital video recorder from the CCTV system, along with a car, were seized. However, the convoy was stopped by Himachal police near Shimla and later at checkpoints in Shoghi and Dharampur, where a roadside exchange was broadcast by NDTV.
Assistant commissioner Rahul Vikram of the Delhi police was heard telling local officers: “We’ve arrested three people. You are preventing a government employee from working.” A Himachal police officer responded: “We have filed a case against you. You are kidnapping three people. You should join the investigation.”
Shimla superintendent of police Gaurav Singh said his force had received information that 15 to 20 unidentified individuals in plain clothes had forcibly taken away guests and removed CCTV equipment without providing a seizure memo. A case was registered under sections related to wrongful confinement and kidnapping.
After hours of deadlock, the Delhi police convoy was escorted to Shimla and taken to the district court. The Youth Congress defended the original protest, with party president Uday Bhanu Chib saying it represented “the voice of millions of angry unemployed youth”, while the ruling BJP condemned the demonstration as “topless, brainless, shameless”.
