The Delhi High Court on Thursday agreed to hear on Friday a petition seeking a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) student protest and the violence that erupted during its “Chalo Sansad” march to Parliament.
Event Context
The court’s move comes a day after it sought responses from the Centre and Delhi Police on pleas seeking an inquiry into alleged police excesses during the demonstrations.
The matter was mentioned before the court by advocate Barun Sinha, appearing for petitioner Satish Kumar Aggarwal, former vice-president of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, who urged that the plea be taken up on Friday.
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To be sure, the development comes a day after the high court issued notices to the Centre and Delhi Police on separate petitions seeking the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations of police excesses against protesters at Jantar Mantar. While hearing those pleas on Wednesday, the court observed that the incident did not appear to be “isolated”.
On July 20, the CJP held its “Chalo Sansad” march after a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar that had continued for more than three weeks. Thousands of protesters marched towards Parliament demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination paper leaks and accountability for student suicides.
As demonstrators attempted to move through central Delhi, police stopped the march using multiple layers of barricades. A section of protesters later breached the barricades and advanced towards the Parliament complex, prompting security personnel to use tear gas and lathicharge to disperse the crowd. The clashes left scores of protesters and police personnel injured, leading to multiple FIRs and competing legal challenges.
Team Analysis
Sinha submitted that the “so-called student agitation” had effectively “made the entire Delhi hostage” and that road blockades caused by the protests had severely inconvenienced city residents.
Agreeing to list the matter on Friday, the court said, “Alright, tomorrow.”
In his petition, Aggarwal has sought a direction to NIA – the country’s premier counter-terrorism investigation agency – to take over all FIRs registered by Delhi Police in connection with the violence. The plea also seeks directions to authorities to identify all those allegedly responsible for acts of violence, vandalism, obstruction of emergency services, damage to public and private property and other offences committed during the protests, and to register appropriate criminal cases against them.
The petition also alleged that the agitation was not a genuine student movement, but appeared part of a larger conspiracy orchestrated by “anti-national and foreign elements” to destabilise the country.
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“That the circumstances surrounding the said protest indicate that, under the apparent guise of democratic dissent and public demonstration, certain external forces and foreign interests may be attempting to utilise their financial and other resources to influence domestic affairs, destabilise the democratic framework, and create conditions of internal conflict,” the petition stated.
“Such actions appear to be aimed at obstructing the nation’s progress, weakening democratic institutions, and creating circumstances that may lead to serious social and political unrest, including the possibility of civil discord,” it added.
