'Jallianwala Bagh-like atrocities....': SC to hear pleas alleging police brutality
What's the story
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two petitions on Monday, alleging police excesses against student protesters. The petitions were mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan. Sankaranarayanan emphasized the need for immediate court intervention, saying that incidents of alleged police brutality were happening on a daily basis. One of the petitions compared the alleged atrocities committed on July 20 against students to the atrocities of the Jallianwala Bagh.
Petition details
One petition seeks regulation of police action during protests
"Some controls are necessary. The court stands between us and the police," Sankaranarayanan said.
Taking note of the urgency, the chief justice agreed to hear the case on Monday.
One of the petitions seeks to regulate police action during public protests.
It calls for a ban on deploying plainclothes personnel for crowd-control duties and guidelines for using prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
The petition also demands an independent probe into the police actions.
Youth concerns
Petition compares July 20 police action to Jallianwala Bagh massacre
The petition emphasizes that today's youth are facing deprivation, unemployment, and expensive education.
"They are presenting their legitimate demands to the government in a peaceful manner (Article 19). However, in return, they are receiving lathi charges, tear gas, pellet guns, and outrage against the modesty of female students peacefully protesting (violating Article 21). Day by day, the government is becoming increasingly cruel toward these protests," the petition filed through Advocate-on-Record Chand Qureshi said.
Legal concerns
Petitioner challenges legality of 'rolling prohibitory orders'
The other petition raises questions over the legality of "rolling prohibitory orders" issued without a direct threat to public order. It argues that these orders violate constitutional rights to peaceful assembly.
It also challenges Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, for being vague and potentially criminalizing peaceful dissent.
The petitioner seeks national guidelines barring police from crowd-control operations in plain clothes or without visible identity badges.
Investigation request
'Don't waste our time': What CJI said earlier
On Wednesday, reports said that CJI Kant refused to list a petition raising the issue of police force.
When a lawyer submitted that there was video evidence of police brutality against the protesters, he orally declined to examine the videos, saying, "Don't waste our time, and don't waste your time."
However, on Friday he said that there was no petition filed and it was only a representation.
"It was only a representation and people started recklessly reporting it," he said.