'How Is This For Publicity?' High Court To Centre On Police Brutality Plea

Hearing petitions alleging that "brute force" by the police against Cockroach Janta Party-led protesters marching to Parliament has "shaken the conscience of the nation", the Delhi High Court has issued notices to the Delhi Police and the Centre and asked for relevant records, including CCTV and other footage to be preserved.

Wednesday's hearing saw fireworks between advocates representing the petitioners and Additional Solicitor General S Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police and the Centre. Lawyers for the petitioners alleged women were molested and attacked on their private parts, batons with nails were used, police personnel had no badges, and also said they have 110 videos backing up these claims. ASG Raju countered that the crowd was unruly, policemen were injured and went on to declare that the petitions were aimed at "hogging the limelight" and garnering publicity.

The bench headed by Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya, however, questioned the assertion, asking, "How can you say this is a publicity petition?"

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As the hearing began, Senior Advocates N Hariharan and Vikas Singh, appearing for the petitioners, said the protesters were exercising rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution, including the right to peaceful protest and assembly. 

"Something that followed was unimaginable. Brutality to the largest measure possible has been used. I am not for once saying that the state did not have the ability to regulate the movement, channelise the movement... Policemen can be seen beating ladies on their private parts. Women at the protest were molested. More than 90 protesters were injured, and the numbers keep growing. I am not saying police were not injured, but it needs to be inquired what happened on the ground," Hariharan told the bench. 

Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for a petitioner who alleged the eviction of activist Sonam Wangchuk from the protest site was illegal, said tear gas was used against the protesters during the march on Monday. This, he said, is supposed to be the last option, according to the Supreme Court's 2012 order in the midnight crackdown on Baba Ramdev's anti-corruption protest.

"There are videos of a mother and children... tear gas canisters were thrown at them. There are lathis with nails. The policeman is wearing a helmet, t-shirt and jeans. There is a video of one personnel tripping a running protester and four of them attack him when he falls down. I have seen 110 videos... The Delhi Police is seen in plain clothes bullying and attacking young students. There is a video from around 6 am on Monday. It is not verified, but it shows a car with a broken windshield parked near the protest site. There is another video of a vehicle filled with stones parked before even the protest started. This was to blame the protesters," he alleged.

Counterpoint

ASG Raju countered that social media videos are being relied upon by the petitioners and there are many videos that show policemen were injured. 

"Their allegation is that some unidentified persons are policemen. It is a well-known fact that so-called peaceful protests are hijacked. There are political parties that want to take advantage of this. Therefore, this was not a peaceful agitation... As far as the crowd is concerned, there are videos which show the crowd was indulging in stone-throwing. They agree that there were vehicles with stones. Now they are trying to get away from that by saying the police brought it," Raju argued.

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"They can approach the magistrate court if they want an FIR to be registered. They cannot come to this court under Article 226. They have not even gone to the police for FIRs. There were prohibitory orders under Section 144. Though the petition looks impressive at the first blush, it is not so. These petitions are only publicity seeking petitions so that they can get limelight. These are petitions with ulterior motives. Persons beaten up, or allegedly beaten up, have not come forward. These petitions do not even warrant a notice. It is a petition to hog the limelight, but it is not entertainable under the law," he continued.

Court Order

The Chief Justice-led bench asked how every individual could be expected to file individual FIRs. 

"We have some questions for you, Mr Raju. Was this an isolated incident? Perhaps, no. Second, if this was an unlawful assembly, there is a procedure to deal with it. If these issues are being raised in a PIL, how can you say every individual should go and lodge an FIR? Had it been an isolated incident, the situation would have been different... How can you say this is a publicity petition? We are not saying what they are saying is correct. We are not in a position to verify the videos yet. Therefore, you will have to file a response," Chief Justice Upadhyaya said.

The court issued notices to the Delhi Police and the Centre and asked them to reply within four weeks. 

"In the meantime, we direct that relevant records in relation to the incident as mentioned in the writ petitions, including the CCTV footage, videography, if any, shall be preserved in accordance with SOP issued by the police," the bench directed.

The next hearing will be on September 11.