'Your Anger Is Their Satisfaction': Delhi Police Get Fresh Protest Guidelines, Told To Stay Calm, Avoid Provocation And Ensure Public Safety

Delhi Police have received new instructions from a central authority regarding their conduct during protests, aimed at ensuring public safety. The guidelines emphasize the importance of maintaining calmness, avoiding provocation, and refraining from being portrayed negatively by protesters filming police personnel. Delhi Police sources revealed that these rules were implemented following allegations of police excesses during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar.

The primary focus of the guidelines is on professionalism and restraint during crowd management duties. Police personnel are advised to assume that their actions are being recorded on mobile phones, potentially circulating widely online. They are instructed not to engage in verbal altercations or physical confrontations with protesters, except in the course of their duty.

Instead, personnel should maintain professional body language and respectful language, even when faced with mockery, humor, songs, dances, placards, mock salutes, or other forms of provocation.

The guidelines also caution against reacting to personal subjects raised by protesters, such as family issues, salaries, or emotional appeals. Officers are asked to avoid accepting gifts or items from protesters, including flowers offered in situations where protesters claim to have been injured by police. Despite the emphasis on maintaining law and order, the guidelines stress that public safety must not be compromised.

Police personnel are directed to assist injured protesters and ensure unobstructed access for ambulances, schoolchildren, and the elderly.