Sources from the police department on Monday said that the police did not respond quickly during Saturday’s riots as it was following a 2006 model of a riot situation, in which several thousands of people had participated and had dispersed after damaging a few vehicles without causing any human casualties.
They were expecting a similar situation on Saturday. However, when the police officials realised the gravity of the situation, it was too late.
Commissioner Arup Patnaik on Monday said that there was no intelligence failure and that adequate police personnel were deployed, but he had restrained his men from action as he did not want a 1992 riot-like situation. “In 2006, an emotional issue had sparked a riot-like situation… However, the police did not take immediate action and the mobs dispersed after damaging a few vehicles. The police was expecting a similar outcome on Saturday, but the situation went out of control,” said a source.
Mr Patnaik held a debriefing session with his men on Monday, after which he spoke to the media. “We had intelligence inputs that there would be around 20,000 people during the demonstration, That was the reason why a joint police commissioner, additional police commissioner and four deputy police commissioners were deployed with over 700 men in uniform. We successfully contained the situation in just 35 minutes,” Mr Patnaik said, adding, “I was more worried about my men. Had they been given orders, there would have been 500 corpses lying on the road, which we did not want.”
He also said that he had been told that around two to three persons arrested for the riots, were not involved. “We will discharge them under Section 169 of the Criminal Procedure Code if there is no evidence against them, and they wont be chargesheeted,” he said