Delhi CJP Protests: Following the alleged police brutality during Cockroach Janata Party's (CJP) Parliament protest in Delhi, authorities have been directed by the Delhi High Court to preserve the videography, CCTV footage along with all the relevant records as per Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Delhi Police or the central government. The direction came after petitions demanded a court-monitored SIT probe into Monday’s incident. The petitioners have complained of lathicharge and excessive use of force during the march.
The matter was heard by a bench consisting of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia. While issuing notice on two petitions, the court also demanded responses from the Delhi Police and the Centre within four weeks.
The hearing on Wednesday saw sharp arguments between the lawyers of the petitioners and Additional Solicitor General S Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police and the Centre.
According to petitioners, women protesters were assaulted and struck on their private parts during the police action. They further claimed that police personnel used batons fitted with nails, many officers were not wearing identification badges, and said they possessed 110 videos to support these allegations.
The statements were responded to by ASG Raju, who stated that the crowd was unmanageable. He added that several policemen were injured in the incident. ASG further said that the petitions were "hogging the limelight" and wanted publicity. The bench, however, questioned, "How can you say this is a publicity petition?"
"Issue notice. In the meantime, we direct that the relevant record in relation to the incident as mentioned in the writ, including the CCTV footage, videography, if any, shall be preserved in accordance with the SOP issued by the Delhi Police or by the Union of India. List on 11.9," Delhi High Court stated in its order. The matter will now be heard on September 11.
SC Declines Urgent Hearing
On Monday, when the CJP Parliament march turned violent, the police personnel resorted to a lathi charge and tear gas shelling to disperse the crowd. The crowd resorted to stone pelting and vandalism. As many as 118 cops and over 60 protestors sustained injuries.
The matter also reached the Supreme Court on Wednesday, which refused to hear the plea against alleged police brutality on student protestors urgently on Thursday.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said that the bench was not inclined to examine the video footage at this stage. On being pressed to hear the plea on Thursday, the CJI said, "We are not interested in videos; we don't have time to watch. We don't want to watch videos.”