Subhash Reddy constituted to probe all issues concerning the police crackdown on students protesting NEET-UG paper leaks on July 20.
Petitioners urgently sought before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant a re-constitution of the “under-equipped” high-powered enquiry committee (HPEC) chaired by former apex court Judge R.
Editorial | Force of law: On the Delhi police “This investigation would require enquiry into the role played by Union Home Minister, Mr. Amit Shah; officials within the Ministry of Home Affairs; Commissioner of Police Delhi, Mr. Anurag Kumar; Special Commissioner(s) of Police and Joint Commissioner(s) of Police, Delhi Police; Inspector General, Rapid Action Force, Seema Dhundia; other high-ranking officials from Rapid Action Force. This investigation would require enquiry into the specific role played by each of the individuals and officers,” the application, mentioned by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi, contended. Chief Justice Surya Kant tried to assuage apprehensions, saying the HPEC would be functioning under the eye of the Supreme Court itself. The application however pointed out that publicly available information about the non-judicial members of the HPEC did not disclose specialised experience in independently investigating allegations of excessive police force or examining the conduct of senior serving executive and police officials. Besides Justice Reddy, the committee includes Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court; Justice Shalinder Kaur, former Judge of the Delhi High Court; Rishi Kumar Shukla, former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation; and Dr. L.R. Bishnoi, retired Director General of Police, Meghalaya.
The application said the span of the enquiry would cover the specific directions passed by them or on before July 20; directions passed by them to ensure that order is maintained at the protest site; directions passed by them to ensure that use of force was proportional; directions to personnel of Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force not to wear uniform or name tags; disciplinary action taken against personnel deployed for the indiscriminate and excessive use of force, for not wearing uniforms and/or name tags, for using banned arms and equipment, and for outraging modesty of women.
An application filed by the petitioners clarified that they were not commenting on the personal integrity of any members of the HPEC, but they said the “enquiry is required to test the role of persons occupying the highest levels of the Union Executive, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force”.
