For almost four hours commuters were stuck on both sides of the Noida-Delhi link road.
A group of people, along with aggrieved parents of Ekisha Raghav Shah, blocked the Delhi-Noida link road in protest over the suicide of the 16-year-old student of Ahlcon Public School, Mayur Vihar Phase I, around noon today. A little after 2 pm, they blocked the Noida-Delhi link road. With both the roads blocked, traffic in the area came to a standstill, with commuters stuck on the road for hours.
However, the protest first began outside the gates of Ahlcon Public School in Mayur Vihar Phase I. The entire stretch connecting Mayur Vihar Phase I Metro station, from the new bridge near Sahyog Apartments, to Ahlcon Public School, was closed. It was only after this that the protest shifted to the Noida-Mayur Vihar link road.
However, despite the protest being to demand justice for a 16-year-old student driven to suicide by the school, there was ruckus created by a few protesters. Even the victim’s brother was seen using abusive language against the commuters stuck on the road and the police personnel present at the spot. The protesters allegedly used foul language and hit out at any commuter trying to drive past them. Thankfully, Delhi Police personnel managed to keep the situation under control.
A senior police officer was heard saying to the group of boys, “If the death of an innocent girl was not involved, you would have taught a tough lesson today.”
In the meantime, traffic was diverted through an under-construction underpass behind the Mayur Vihar Phase I Metro station. Traffic from the Akshardham flyover was diverted to the left via Hasanpur village to NH24. Commuters heading towards Noida were diverted from a bridge near Manas Apartments to internal roads connecting to the Noida border. Commuters from Noida to Delhi had no option but to take the internal roads to reach their destinations.
Commuters were stuck for more than three hours o the stretch. A school van ferrying children from one of the nearby private schools was also stuck in the jam. "We are here since noon and are now hungry. We don't know what's wrong, but this jam is bad," said children to the City Spidey reporter on the road, pleading for something to eat.
Sultan Salim, another commuter, said, "It was a very bad situation there. I was stuck for two hours. The distance usually takes me just five or seven minutes."
Interestingly, one of the commuters, Ashish, who got stuck in the roadblock, decided to join the protests.
Delhi Police, on its part, kept trying to talk to parents, asking them to remove the blockade, but irked protesters demanded the immediate arrest of those named in the FIR.
It was only around 4.15 pm, when an official from the Delhi lieutenant-governor's office came to spot, that things started moving.
Sobhit Saxena, ACP, Mayur Vihar, asked officials to get ready for action. He was also heard saying to the protesters, “My advice is that you leave the spot within five minutes, or face tough action.”
CRPF and RAF reached the spot soon after, forcing protesters to call off the blockade and packing the parents and the protesters into a Delhi Police bus headed to Ekisha's home in Noida Sector 52.
