'Crowd Was Unruly; Police Force Was Inadequate' : Delhi High Court Seeks Sealed Cover Report On Investigation Into Attack At Arvind Kejriwal's Residence

The Delhi High Court has sought a status report, in a sealed cover, on the investigation being carried out into the incident of attack and vandalism at Chief Minister's official residence on March 30.

This was after the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla was informed that the Delhi Police, which is responsible for maintaining the CM's security, has registered a FIR suo moto and 8 persons have been arrested so far.

ASG Sanjay Jain, appearing for the agency, further informed on instructions that all the evidence relating to the case including CCTV footage shall be preserved.

The Court was hearing a petition filed by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj, seeking an SIT investigation into the incident.

At the outset, ASG Jain opposed issuance of notice, stating that the petition has been filed on a false presumption that no FIR has been registered against the incident. "This petitioner has come knocking at the doors of a Constitutional court within 24 hours, without taking note of the Supreme Court's judgment in Romila Thapar," the ASG submitted.

He assured the Court that a meeting has been held between the Home Ministry and the Delhi Police, and that they will re-assess the threat perception in consultation with the CM Secretariat.

The Court however observed that it is not on the question of constitution of a SIT. It remarked that it is concerned since the incident relates to a "Constitutional functionary" and thus it needs to have the basic details of the incident.

"We have seen the video. It is an unruly crowd. People broke boom-barrier, some even tried to climb the gate. They tried to take law in their hands. We also find that police force was inadequate and was outnumbered. So you will have to explain what was your bandobast. What intimation you had about this incident happening. We will have to see all this," the Bench said orally.

The ASG contended that issuing notice on this PIL, which has been filed by a political person, will send a wrong message. However, the Court remarked that if the Respondents are so "sensitive" to issuance of notice, it is inclined to give them an opportunity to file a status report before proceeding further.

The ASG had also raised question on the locus of the petitioner, stating that he is neither the victim nor a complainant. However, the Bench responded,

"Any citizen, political or not could have filed this. This is a constitutional functionary we are talking about. He is the CM."

Attention of the Court was also drawn to the incident of security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Punjab visit. Senior Advocates AM Singhvi and Rahul Mehra appearing for the Petitioner informed the Court that the case for probing the incident was filed before the Supreme Court by NGO "Lawyers Voice".  

The matter will now be heard on April 25.

The petition moved through Advocate Bharat Gupta alleged that on March 30, "several BJP goons" in the garb of a protest, launched an attack on the official residence of the CM, videos and photographs of which show that such persons "casually walked through the security cordon maintained by Delhi Police, kicked and broke the boom barrier, broke the CCTVs cameras with lathis, threw paint on the gate of the residence and almost climbed over the gate."

It further alleged that the Delhi Police completely abdicated its duty, without any regard for the fact that they were protecting an elected constitutional functionary who was given Z+ security by Delhi Police itself.

Thus, calling it a direct attack on democracy, the petition seeks an independent, fair and time bound criminal investigation with respect to the attack and its perpetrators as also directions for ensuring the security of Chief Minister and his residence, in future.

Case Title: SAURABH BHARDWAJ v. DELHI POLICE & ANR