NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday directed authorities not to take coercive action against two police officers who were booked in connection with the Tis Hazari Court complex clashes earlier this month.
On November 2, a parking dispute between an on-duty policeman and a lawyer triggered the clash between the two sides at the court complex on November 2, leaving over 20 police personnel and several advocates injured.
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A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notices and sought responses from the Centre, Delhi Police, Bar Council of India (BCI) and other bar associations on a plea from the two assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) seeking protection from any coercive actions in the FIRs registered against them till judicial inquiry into the incident is completed. It adjourned the matter for December 23.
The court was hearing two applications filed by ASIs Kanta Prasad Yadav and Pawan Kumar, suspended after the incident, in which they have also sought quashing of a November 11 order passed by a trial court.
On November 11, an additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) directed the police to file a status report on the investigation into the clash by November 20.
The police officers have also sought a stay on the trial court’s order and the proceedings in the matter till the pendency of a judicial inquiry, which was ordered by the high court on November 3.
They alleged in the applications that the ACMM has exceeded his mandate by assuming the charge of monitoring the investigation even though a judicial inquiry, chaired by retired Justice S P Garg, has already been constituted.
Who were the stone pelters?
A new CCTV footage of the clash between the lawyers and the police, in Tis Hazari court premises, is making it difficult for the SIT to figure out that the stone pelters in black coats and with their faces covered are lawyers or not.
“It will be very difficult for the SIT to prove that the stone pelters were lawyers,” a source from Tis Hazari court said.
(With agency inputs)