A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court on the brutal action of the police against the students and others protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Through a letter petition filed in the court, it has been demanded that the Supreme Court should take suo motu cognizance of the matter. Also, an independent judicial inquiry should be constituted under his supervision or an independent agency should be directed to investigate the entire matter.
Advocate Narendra Mishra, who practices in the court, filed a letter petition before the Chief Justice. He says that he will raise this issue before the CJI bench. Letter petition is the process under which any person or organization can lodge his complaint by writing a letter directly to the Supreme Court or High Court judge. The court can accept this letter as a public interest litigation.
SC takes cognizance of violation of the Constitution
The petitioner requested the highest court to take suo motu cognizance of the alleged violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution during the peaceful protest.
It was also demanded that the Delhi Police Commissioner should be directed to present before this court detailed information about police deployment, orders issued, use of force, CCTV footage, drone footage, body-camera footage (wherever available), wireless logs and all incidents related to the protest.
Electronic evidence must be preserved
Also, after considering all the electronic evidence, including the pen drive containing about 100 video recordings, submitted in this petition, an independent judicial inquiry should be constituted under the supervision of the court to investigate the allegations of excessive use of force by the Delhi Police or instructions should be given to conduct an investigation by an independent agency.
The court has also been requested to order an investigation in which those people in plain clothes can be identified. Also, instructions should be given to investigate who allegedly attacked the peaceful protesters. It should also be ascertained whether he had done so under any official authority, instruction or support.
Under the petition, it has been demanded from the court that if a person is found guilty of a crime, irrespective of the position he holds, an appropriate FIR should be registered and instructions should be given to initiate criminal proceedings against him.
Also, instructions should be given to secure all electronic evidence (CCTV footage, mobile phone videos, drone footage, social media recordings, police communication records, body-camera footage) and all other related materials to prevent evidence from being destroyed, tampered with or suppressed. Apart from this, it has also been demanded that all those found injured due to any illegal or excessive use of force should be directed to give appropriate compensation and provide necessary medical aid.
Earlier on Monday, hundreds of students, youth and elders demonstrated in Nagpur in support of the protest organized by activist Sonam Wangchuk and Cockroach Janata Party at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The protesters pledged that their agitation will continue until the Education Minister resigns.
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