The Supreme Court of India on Monday, July 27, said that just because there is an agitation, it does not mean there should ‘lathi charge’, as it observed that the right to peaceful protest is guaranteed.
On injuries to police personnel during the July 20 Parliament march, led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the Apex Court said that, “Life of every individual irrespective of who they are is important.”
The Supreme Court on Tuesday a batch of pleas alleging police excesses against students protesting over NEET paper leak across the country and other exam irregularities. The court also agreed to take up a separate plea, filed by a few family members of those police personnel who were attacked during the protest, along with other listed petitions.
The bench was headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana.
“The right to peaceful protest is absolutely guaranteed. That cannot be denied. Merely because there is agitation cannot justify police excesses,” the CJI said.
“There should be a protocol in place. There should be proper space and no restriction. But if there are some anti-social elements etc that can be taken care of. This is not a question of Delhi only. Uniformity of protocol is needed,” the bench said.
“Just because there is agitation does not mean there is ‘lathi charge’.. self-evolved discipline is needed which is essential to democratic process,” the CJI said and urged parties to assist the bench.
The Cockroach Janta Party-led march on July 20 in Delhi witnessed clashes between protesters and security personnel, who used lathis and teargas shells to disperse crowds attempting to move towards Parliament. Both sides suffered injuries.
The protest was finally called off after 36 days of Saturday as Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned from his post and the government Pradhan resigned and the government accepted Cockroach Janta Party’s other demands during a meeting between MoS PMO Jitendra Singh, Health Minister JP Nadda and CJP spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka.
Violent clashes between the protesters and the police personnel at Jantar Mantar were also reported on Saturday. A section of protesters allegedly pelted stones at security personnel, in which a special commissioner of police and two police officers were injured. The incident prompted security forces to lob tear gas and resort to a mild lathicharge to bring the situation under control, reported PTI.
Earlier on July 22, the Delhi High Court sought responses from the Centre and the Delhi Police on two separate pleas alleging excessive use of force against protesters during the July 20 march to Parliament.
The high court had directed the authorities to preserve all relevant records in relation to the police action, including CCTV camera footage and any videography.