The Delhi High Court on Monday termed the last month's incident when miscreants breached the barricades outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's house, reached the gates, and destroyed public property a "failure" of Delhi Police and asked the Commissioner to "fix responsibility" for the "serious lapse".
A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi said it was not satisfied with the Delhi Police status report, which was given in a sealed cover, as far as the security arrangement was concerned. The court granted two weeks to the Delhi Police Commissioner to file a further status report, including on the aspect of the review of Kejriwal's security.
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The bench was hearing a plea by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj concerning the alleged attack outside Kejriwal's residence on March 30 during a protest against his remarks on "The Kashmir Files" film.
The court said, “The bandobast [security arrangement] made outside the residence of the CM and the road leading to the residence, in the wake of the permission sought on behalf of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha which was declined, was not adequate.
"It is very clear that there has been a failure on part of the force to prevent the incident. We want the Commissioner of Police to look into the lapse on part of the police."
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The court added that failures need to have accountability. It said, “He [Delhi Police Commissioner] should inquire into firstly whether bandobast was adequate, secondly the reasons for the failure of the arrangements made and thirdly fix the responsibility for the lapse which admittedly has occurred. Once there is a failure, there has to come with consequences. Responsibility has to be fixed so that remedial action is taken. It is the constitutional office we are concerned with.”
In case of any lapse in the investigation in the matter, the magistrate concerned may look into it and there are judicial remedies available, the high court added.
Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Rahul Mehta, appearing for the petitioner, urged the court to constitute a special investigation team for an impartial probe into the incident.
Earlier on April 1, the Delhi High Court had sought a status report from the police concerning the incident and had said that an "element of fear" was sought to be created by the "unruly crowd" and the police force at the spot was "inadequate" and "outnumbered".
The matter would be heard next on May 17.
(With PTI inputs)
