Bulldozers join police flag march post Agnipath protests in Aligarh

joinIn a controversial move, the district police in Aligarh included bulldozers in some of the flag marches in the city after the violence over the Centre's Agnipath scheme.

Former Samajwadi Party MLA from Aligarh Zameer Ulla Khan criticised the move saying damaging anyone's property can't be justified.

Bulldozers are being seen here as a possible deterrent against violent protests.

After damage to public property in protests following now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nupur Sharma's remarks against Prophet Mohammed, there have been cases where the authorities allegedly used bulldozers to demolish the houses of those involved in violence.

The authorities had, however, said action was taken according to the law as the structures were constructed without the approval of the building plan. The SC is also hearing petitions over the alleged demolition of houses using bulldozers following the violent protests.

Aligarh is one of the worst-hit districts where violence broke out over the Agnipath scheme. However, the police said no untoward incident has taken place in the district since Friday evening.

Police patrolling has continued unabated in all affected areas under the Tappal, Khair and Lodha police stations.

SSP Kalanidhi Naithani said 30 protesters were arrested on Monday in connection with the Friday's violence. So far, 67 people have been held, he said.

Five additional companies of the PAC have been deployed in the affected areas, the SSP told reporters. 

Though police officials neither denied nor defended the use of bulldozers, eye-witnesses said the machines were used during flag marches on Monday in a number of areas at Khair and Tappal.

Former SP MLA from Aligarh city Zameer Ulla Khan took a dig at police on this issue. Khan told reporters, "Damaging public property during any kind of agitation cannot be justified in any situation. Using bulldozers for crushing dissent is absolutely unjustified."

The inherent flaw in using bulldozers as an instrument for enforcing law and order has been badly exposed during the ongoing agitation, Khan added, stressing that the intention of those behind this act now stands exposed.