new delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday adjourned the hearing in the batch of petitions seeking an independent probe into the alleged police brutality inside the Jamia Millia Islamia campus in December last year as Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, appearing for the Delhi Police said its response was legitimate and senior advocate Colin Gonsalves demanding that the petitioners be allowed to view all CCTV footage from the area that night. The court has now posted the matter for next hearing on
September 18.
During the hearing, ASG Lekhi refused to call students who were beaten up by police "students" and insisted that they were instead an "unruly mob". He submitted to the court that the circumstances on the night of December 15 were such that Delhi Police had to enter the campus to control the "law and order situation" created by protesting students.
The Delhi Police told the court that protesters were indulging in arson, violence and stone-pelting. It added that such action cannot be protected as a person's constitutional right to free speech and hence the police had to use force to diffuse the situation. The ASG repeatedly maintained that the police action was "legitimate and proportionate".
However, during the submission, the court asked, "Even if we assume that the action taken by police was legitimate, but was it proportionate? Does it justify what the police have done? Was it as per the ethical standards of policing?"
To this, the ASG, however, replied that the gravity of the situation needs to be understood. He went on to argue that the mob's violence is not in doubt and that in light of that, the police action was "warranted". Moreover, ASG Lekhi said that in severe situations, there is also always the "right to private defence", adding that the mob's actions were nothing short of "intent to murder".
However, senior advocate Gonsalves, representing one of the petitioners in the hearing, asked the court to direct the police accordingly so that petitioners can see a copy of all the CCTV footage from the area. Gonsalves went on to argue that they should also be provided a copy of all chargesheets filed in this matter.
"We just want the copies of the chargesheets that the police themselves have relied upon," Gonsalves said, to which ASG Lekhi said he had not relied upon any chargesheet. The court then adjourned the hearing and posted the matter for next hearing.