New Delhi: In one of the largest deployments of central forces on law and order duties in the national capital during a protest, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has made available a total of 221 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)—roughly 23,000 personnel—to the Delhi Police from 8 to 12 October.
These include 111 companies made available in view of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests in July, and 110 sanctioned on 6 October.
For this deployment, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) companies are being pulled out from the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, where they had been retained following the Amarnath Yatra; West Bengal, where they have been stationed since last year’s elections; and Chhattisgarh, where they are specifically deployed for anti Naxal operations.
The deployment is significantly larger than two previous major protests: the July Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) agitation and the farmers’ protests in 2020-21.
This comes at a time the CJP has announced a fresh mobilisation as ‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’ starting 10 October to press for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over issues surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
A total of 111 companies had already been made available to the Delhi Police in view of the July CJP protests, and they continued to be with the force for the BRICS Summit on 12-13 September.
These included 41 companies of the Border Security Force (BSF), 18 of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), 16 of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), 13 companies of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), 12 from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF, including five women companies), and 11 from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
An additional 110 companies have now been sanctioned, ThePrint has learnt.
The additional deployment comprises 85 CRPF companies, 10 SSB companies, seven RAF companies, seven ITBP companies, and one CISF company. Besides the CAPFs, at least 15,000 Delhi Police personnel will be deployed on the ground, multiple sources confirmed.
“These companies are being brought in for law and order duties amid the ongoing protests in Delhi to ensure there are no untoward incidents,” a source in the security establishment said. “The police felt the need for additional forces, and after consideration, it was decided that the deployment would be sanctioned from 8 to 12 October, following which the companies will be released.”
According to a source, among the companies being pulled out are 85 CRPF companies that were deployed for the Amarnath Yatra, 20 of the 137 companies deployed in the Jammu region, 40 of the 65 companies deployed in West Bengal since October last year and 22 of the 157 companies stationed in Chhattisgarh for anti-Naxal operations.
The scale of the mobilisation is considerably higher than that seen during other major protests in the capital.
During the CJP protest in July, 150 CAPF companies were deployed across Delhi, with forces also airlifted from West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. During the farmers’ protests, 93 CAPF companies were deployed.
The present deployment, however, remains almost at par with that of the G20 Summit, when 236 CAPF companies were deployed alongside around 25,000 Delhi Police personnel.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)