New Delhi, The Supreme Court has refused to reconstitute a five-member high-powered committee set up to examine alleged police excesses against student protesters in Delhi, underlining that allegations against the panel were conjectures and preconceived notions.
The top court asked the HPEC to proceed with its enquiry into issues pertaining to the use of pellet guns, targeted violence and harassment of female protesters, as well as the issue of excessive violence and destruction of property occasioned on either side. The High-Powered Enquiry Committee is not created to espouse the causes of one or the other party before the court, the bench said in the order dated September 10 that was uploaded online on Tuesday. The Supreme Court formed the HPEC, headed by former top court judge R Subhash Reddy, to examine allegations of police excesses against student protesters during the Cockroach Janta Party -led protest march on July 20 in Delhi and violence against police personnel.
It had said the committee would comprise former Punjab and Haryana High Court chief justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi High Court judge Shalinder Kaur, former CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla and retired Meghalaya DGP L R Bishnoi. “We are confident that the recommendations of the HPEC will be of invaluable assistance to this court, and the committee will be able to undertake a comprehensive assessment of all such issues as merit due contemplation,” the bench had said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had opposed the submissions and asked the apex court to ignore such allegations.
Earlier, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for one of the petitioners seeking reconstitution of the HPEC, submitted that one of the members of the panel who was a former DGP of a northeastern state was under a “conflict of interest” as he was a close friend of a high functionary who was likely to be under investigation.
