New Delhi, The Delhi High Court at a special hearing on Sunday ordered judicial inquiry into the Saturday’s Tis Hazari court complex clashes between cops and lawyers, and directed transfer of two senior police officers.
A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C Harishankar, ordered transfer of Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order, Northern Range) Sanjay Singh and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North District) Harinder Kumar Singh.
The court set up a committee to conduct judicial inquiry and asked it to submit report within six weeks. The Justice (rtd) S.P. Garg-headed committee will include Directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Vigilance Department.
The court has instructed Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government to provide compensation to the injured advocates.
The counsel for the Centre informed the court that 21 policemen were injured and eight police vans were burnt in the clashes. The police have transferred the additional sub-inspector (ASI) Pawan Kumar and suspended ASI Kamta Prasad.
“We direct the Commissioner of Police to record the statement of injured advocates — Vijay Verma, Pankaj Dubey, Ranjit Malik, Sagar Sharma and others — and after that FIRs should be registered and copy of the same be given to the court on the next date of hearing,” said the court.
During the hearing, the Delhi Police through its counsel Rahul Mehra submitted that 21 officers injured included one Additional DCP and two SHOs (Civil Lines, Kotwali). It further said four FIRs had been registered. Of this, two were registered on Saturday and two on Sunday.
Mehra submitted that 14 motorcycles, one QRT gypsy and eight jail vans, which were parked outside lockups, were burnt. The CCTV footage of the incident had been secured, photography and videography done by Crime Team and FSL examination had been conducted, he added.
He informed the court that a special investigation team (SIT) of the Crime Branch, headed by DCP Joy Tirkey, had been set up. “The Special CP (Intelligence), the Additional CP (Vigilance) and the DCP (special branch) are conducting internal independent enquiry,” Mehra informed.
The Bar Associations stated that the Delhi Police didn’t take precautionary measures and displayed aggressive behaviour. “It’s not a dispute between lawyers and police. They did not take any precautions, they could have fired in the air first,” it said.
Delhi High Court Bar Association chief Mohit Mathur claimed that the reinforcement was called with a “pre-decided idea to bang and not to secure the situation”
A minor argument between a lawyer and some policemen over parking at the Tis Hazari court complex on Saturday flared into violence and arson, leaving a lawyer with a bullet injury. The police alleged that the advocates assaulted them and set ablaze some police vehicles.
