Guwahati: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Delhi Police and the Union government on a batch of public interest litigations alleging excessive police action during the Cockroach Janta Party‘s “Sansad Chalo” march held on July 20 over the alleged NEET paper leak.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notices to the respondents and directed them to file their counter affidavits within four weeks. Pending further proceedings, the Court also ordered the preservation of all material connected to the incident, including CCTV footage and videographic records.
The matter came up after the Court permitted urgent mentioning of one of the petitions. During the hearing, the petitioners argued that the police action against the student protesters had “shocked the conscience of the entire nation”.
Senior Advocates N. Hariharan, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Vikas Singh represented the petitioners, while Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju appeared on behalf of the Delhi Police and the Union government.
Addressing the bench, Hariharan submitted that the demonstration at Jantar Mantar had started peacefully, with participants exercising their fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution. While acknowledging that authorities have the power to regulate public assemblies, he argued that the force allegedly used to disperse the protesters was grossly disproportionate and beyond what the situation warranted.