L-G summons senior cop, seeks report on action

A day after the Delhi police was heavily criticised for its brutal action against protesting students outside the RSS headquarters in the city on Saturday, lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung on Tuesday summoned joint commissioner S.K. Gautam and sought a detailed report into the matter.

During his meeting with the lieutenant-governor, Mr Gautam apprised him about the issue after which Mr Jung is learnt to have sought a detailed report. Mr Gautam is heading the probe into the matter. The probe was initiated by police commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi after due consultation with special commissioner (law & order) Deepak Mishra.

Mr Bassi, on the other hand, defended his force saying that the cops may have been provoked by the protesting students. Mr Bassi, who on Monday ordered an inquiry after a video showing cops thrashing students, including women, went viral, took to Twitter on Tuesday to defend his force. “Right to protest coexists with what Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr said — The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.”

Referring to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s tweet that the Delhi police was being used as the RSS and the BJP’s “private army,” Mr Bassi said that he will try to clear the chief minister’s “misgivings” when they meet next.

“DP handled 11,156 L&O events in 2015, most peaceful. Whenever I meet Hon’ble CM, I shall try to clear his misgivings. DP is bound to protect freedom of free speech and peaceful assembly. Help DP and democracy by agitating at Jantar Mantar,” he said in a series of tweets.

Earlier in the day, agitated students demonstrated outside the police headquarters at ITO demanding action against the erring cops. The protest led to a massive traffic jam in the area and commuters were left stranded for hours at the busy intersection.

The students from Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) and Left-backed All-India Students Association (Aisa) staged the protest demanding action against the cops who allegedly assaulted the protesting students.

“The government is not listening to our demands, the police is attacking us, where are the students supposed to go Hang ourselves like Rohith did and succumb to their atrocities ” asked JNU Students’ Union vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora.

A KYS protester said: “The police commissioner needs to tell the country why cops behaved in this manner and on whose instructions they did so. They were so prompt in taking action against the students, why is the top cop not acting against his own policemen now ”

The police was criticised on Monday after a video emerged in which its personnel were seen thrashing protesters and dragging women activists by their hair outside the RSS office at Jhandewalan during a demonstration against dalit student Rohith Vemula’s suicide. The video, which went viral on social media, triggered sharp reactions, with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal alleging the police force was being used as the RSS and the BJP’s “private army” under a political dispensation that is at “war” with students across the country.