Ramlila Maidan crackdown: SC verdict has exposed Centre's callousness, says BJP

Agra/Mathura/New Delhi/Gurgaon, Feb 23 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict in connection with the 2011 midnight crackdown on yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his followers at the Ramlila Maidan, and said that the callousness of the Central Government has been exposed.

"The Home Minister and the Central Government kept on defending the midnight crackdown at the Ramlila Maidan, but the reality has now been disclosed. It is clear how the Central Government cruelly cracks down on movements against black money and corruption," BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the media in Uttar Pradesh's Agra city.

Naqvi further said strict action should be taken against police officials involved in this unpleasing act.

"The rally was acted against with a prejudiced mindset with a cruelty that has no precedent. Action should definitely be taken against the police officials involved," he added.

The Supreme Court had earlier in the day castigated the Delhi Police and Baba Ramdev for the midnight violent incident at the Ramlila Maidan last year, and said it was a 'glaring example of trust deficit' between the people and the government.

Meanwhile, another BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad spelled out some aspects of the apex court's judgment in the case.

"The Supreme Court has cited the action of the Delhi police as unwarranted and illegal. For Rajbala, the disciple of Baba Ramdev, who died of injuries sustained in the baton charge, a compensation has been announced," Prasad told the media in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura city.

An apex court bench of Justices B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar said that incident showed the might of the state, which struck at the foundation of democracy.

The bench further observed that the police and the state could have avoided that tragic incident in which one person died and several others were injured.

Commenting on the death of a woman Rajbala during the incident, the apex court directed the state government and Baba Ramdev to pay a compensation of Rs.5 lakh to her next of kin.

The court directed Baba Ramdev to pay 25 percent of the compensation, while the rest 75 percent would have to be paid by the Government of Delhi.

Rajbala's family also welcomed the Supreme Court verdict.

Rajbala's husband, Jagbir Malik, said both Delhi Police and the Central Government were responsible for the incident that led to his wife's death.The government is responsible, but the responsibility of the police is greater. What they did in the night could have been postponed till the daytime. The baton charge at close to midnight was clearly done at the behest of the government," he told Asian News International (ANI) in Haryana's Gurgaon city.

The yoga guru had been on a hunger strike against corruption along with 65,000 followers when the Delhi Police on the Central Government's orders cracked down on their camp late on the night of June 5 at the Ramlila Maidan.

Delhi Police fired tear gas shells, when Ramdev was on his indefinite 'fast-unto-death' stir to demand several radical reforms in the prevailing political system, including a death penalty for corrupt officials. (ANI)