For CJP protests, Centre moves CAPF personnel from J&K, Naxal-hit areas: report

The Centre has made available around 23,000 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel to the Delhi Police ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) planned protests in the national capital, with forces being pulled from Jammu and Kashmir and anti-Naxal operations, The Print reported on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has made 221 companies of CAPFs available to Delhi Police from October 8 to 12, according to the report. Of these, 111 companies had already been deployed in connection with the CJP's July protests, while another 110 companies were sanctioned on October 6.

The additional deployment includes 85 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 10 companies of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), seven companies of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), seven companies of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and one company of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), The Print reported.

The report said CRPF companies are being pulled from the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, where they had been retained after the Amarnath Yatra, as well as from West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, where personnel have been deployed for security and anti-Naxal operations.

The report added that 20 of the 137 CRPF companies deployed in Jammu, 40 of the 65 companies in West Bengal and 22 of the 157 companies stationed in Chhattisgarh for anti-Naxal operations are among those being moved for the Delhi deployment.

At least 15,000 Delhi Police personnel will also be deployed on the ground, according to multiple sources cited in the report.

The deployment comes as the CJP has announced a fresh mobilisation, dubbed 'Jantar Mantar 2.0', from October 10, seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over issues surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The Print reported that the current deployment is significantly larger than those during the CJP's July agitation, when 150 CAPF companies were deployed, and the farmers' protests of 2020-21, when 93 companies were deployed.

The current deployment is, however, slightly below the 236 CAPF companies deployed during the G20 Summit in Delhi, alongside around 25,000 Delhi Police personnel, the report said.