India, July 23 -- For residents across South Delhi, Kanwar Yatra felt less like a pilgrimage and more like a siege the past week. As the yatra peaked before culminating on Shivratri on Wednesday, neighbourhoods from Saket and Chhatarpur to Malviya Nagar, Greater Kailash, CR Park, Vasant Vihar, Ashram, and Mehrauli were brought to a standstill by kanwariyas who turned roads into open-air party zones.

What was meant to be a religious procession, residents say, quickly descended into lawlessness, marked by loud music, traffic chaos, reckless driving, and open hooliganism. "This was not devotion. This was anarchy on two-wheelers. Young men were racing down narrow lanes, hitting cars with sticks, screaming, blocking intersections, but no one ...