No force was used against Ramdev's supporters: Police tells SC

New Delhi, Jun 17 (PTI) Delhi Police on Friday refuted
the allegation of laticharge on yoga guru Ramdev and his
supporters at the Ramlila Maidan here but justified its
midnight crackdown on the protesters saying permission had
been given only to hold a yoga camp.
In its affidavit filed before the court, the city police
claimed that no force was used against them and only eight
shells of tear gas were fired on Ramdev's supporters after
they turned violent and started pelting stones on the cops.
Justifying its action, police said the authorities had
allowed permission to Ramdev to use the ground only to hold
yoga camp and not for any other purpose.
It said that instead of holding yoga camp, Ramdev was
instigating the crowd during his fast on the issue of
corruption and black money at the ground where more than
20,000 people had gathered.
The city police had filed the response following a
direction of the apex court which took suo motu cognisance of
the crack down and had directed it to explain why it resorted
to such action against Ramdev and his supporters.

The apex court had expressed concern over the "police
atrocities" and use of "brutal force" to disperse the
"innocent" people gathered at the site.
The court had also taken note of articles and reports
published in national dailies depicting the "sad state of
affairs and brutality of the state in dealing with its
innocent citizens".
The court had issued notices to the Union Home Secretary,
the Delhi Chief Secretary and the Delhi Police Commissioner
asking them to respond within two weeks about the
circumstances that led to the operation.
The police in its response said the ground was cleared on
the intervening night of June 4 and 5 to prevent any untoward
incident because more than 20,000 people had gathered there
beyond the capacity of the ground which is around 8-10
thousand.