The Jangpura Residents’ Welfare Assoc-iation (JRWA) on Saturday filed a petition in the Delhi high court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against chief minister Sheila Dikshit, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid and two MLAs — Shoaib Iqbal and Asif Mohammad Khan. The petition says that they had instigated the crowd and allowed people to trespass on government land that had been got vacated of encroachment by the DDA.
The DDA too has filed a formal complaint of trespass on its property with the southeast Delhi police. “The situation is peaceful today though some troops are still there on vigil. We have registered a case on the basis of DDA’s complaint,” said DCP (southeast), O.P. Mishra.
In its petition filed through counsel R.K. Saini, the RWA has alleged that the authority of the court has been lowered by the actions and the words of the people named in the petition. It also said that this was done “deliberately and wilfully”. The petition is likely to be taken up by the court for hearing on Monday.
Meanwhile, people continued to offer prayers at the spot amid heavy police presence.
It may be noted that it was the JRWA, which had filed a petition in the Delhi high court in 2006 to get the encroachment cleared as the space was marked for construction of a community centre.
The high court had ordered the DDA to clear the encroachment but when no action was taken, the JRWA again moved the court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the DDA.
Last year, the high court had asked the DDA to get the encroachment cleared within four weeks but the DDA could not do so due to lack of adequate force despite several attempts.
Meanwhile, at Pushp Vihar, where a temple on land belonging to the CPWD was demolished on Wednesday, activists staged a dharna and blocked the BRT corridor for nearly two hours. They demanded that the temple be re-built at the same place.