Amid large crowds gathered on the Bengaluru streets to celebrate New Year 2023, the city police resorted to lathi-charge on several occasions to control the crowd after a woman was allegedly molested at Church Street. In a tweet, news agency ANI said, "Bengaluru police lathi-charged to disperse the huge crowd after it went out of control."
A massive contingent of police was deployed at several places in the city. It was reported that to ensure women's safety during the celebrations, the police had created 36 women's safety islands across the city. However, the police have not registered a case so far.
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Earlier in the week, the authorities permitted new year celebrations in restaurants, pubs and resorts till 1 AM. Meanwhile, Bengaluru South East division Deputy Commissioner of Police shared a visual of large crowds gathering at Koramangala on his Twitter and said, "Amidst all the celebrations. A swelling crowd, Jubilant and joyous, we steadfastly remain on duty. Responsible and always alert. Maintaining peace and order."
Bengaluru police commissioner Pratap Reddy on Friday said that over 8,500 police personnel across the city. "For the New Year in Bengaluru, a total of 8,500 police personnel and officials have been deployed for maintenance of law and order, other than this the entire staff and officials of the traffic division will be on duty," Reddy said, as quoted by Hindustan Times.