Delhi Government Decides to Withdraw Cases against Student Protesters but Not Those with “Criminal Antecedents”
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 30: The Delhi government has decided to withdraw all the police cases against the protesters who participated in the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) rally at Jantar Mantar and the “Chalo Sansad” protest march to the Parliament House, in line with the centre’s promise to the students, but the protesters have “criminal antecedents” would not get any relief in keeping with the Supreme Court’s July 28 order, the Delhi government said on Thursday.
In a release issued by Delhi’s Home Department, the government further said if a person was detained or arrested during the agitation, he or she would be released without facing any legal action, but only after a review. Releasing the arrested persons will be undertaken expeditiously, the order read.
“Government of NCT of Delhi does not propose to take any further adverse action against the individuals involved in the protests, and the matter shall be treated as closed without any future proceedings on this account,” the order stated. “This is issued with the approval of Hon’ble Lt. Governor of NCT of Delhi.”
“The protection, however, shall not extend to persons having criminal antecedents, as mandated in the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court mentioned above,” the order said.
The CJP, which has already issued two warnings to the government for resuming its protest if the Centre and the BJP-ruled states did not expeditiously honour the commitment it had given to the CJP delegation of unconditional withdrawal of all cases against the student protesters, is yet to react to the Delhi government’s conditional release of the protesters.
The CJP founder leader Abhijeet Dipke, however, on Thursday castigated the BJP government of protecting “goons.” Talking to media persons, Mr Dipke also strongly criticised the government over appointing Pralhad Joshi as the interim Union Education Minister and called him a “weird man.”
“If the Education Minister of the country applauds rapists, this means another weird man has been brought in after removing Dharmendra Pradhan. What message is being given to the country? They cannot do anything else because their party is full of goons,” Dipke said, while speaking to reporters on Thursday. “People like Ram Rahim (a rape convict) come out on parole during their tenure. This government supports goons and rapists,” he added.
While withdrawing their agitation in “good faith” after Mr Pradhan’s resignation, the CJP also said the government has decided to withdraw cases against those involved in the protest in Delhi and other states ruled by the BJP. However, the CJP has repeatedly claimed that cases against the protesters have not been withdrawn yet. The CJP has also threatened to re-launch its protests if the government fails to fulfil its promises.
“We stand with the students, and it is in that spirit that we issued this order,” said Delhi Home Minister Ashish Sood. “Our government has honoured its commitment to them. However, if any anti-social elements with criminal antecedents used the student protest as an opportunity to spread violence, action will be taken against them,” he added.
The arrests were made after the protests escalated on July 20. As outrage spread over the alleged use of excessive force — including pellet guns — on protesters, the government accepted the CJP’s demands. While Dharmendra Pradhan stepping down as the education minister was the main demand, another key ask was the withdrawal of legal action against the protesters.
Two days after calling off the protests, the CJP said there was no move to drop the police cases and warned that unless the government followed up on its assurances, they will hit the streets again. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered states not to take coercive action against protesters and release those with no prior criminal record. Some of the states including Bihar, Assam and West Bengal had earlier taken decisions to withdraw the cases against the CJP protesters in their respective states,
The Supreme Court on Tuesday had indicated that it would consider constituting a high-powered investigation team to conduct a “thorough, fair and independent” inquiry into allegations of police excesses during the recent student protests in Delhi and several States. While permitting the State authorities to proceed with the investigation of the FIRs registered in relation to the protests, the court ordered the immediate release of all minors arrested in connection with the demonstrations and restrained the police from taking coercive action against “protesting students” unless they had criminal antecedents.
The Bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, issued notices to the Union government, the Delhi government and the Chief Secretaries of Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala, directing them to place their responses on record. It indicated that it would decide whether to order an independent probe after considering the responses filed by the authorities.
Taking note of petitions alleging that student protesters had been illegally arrested and detained by the police, the Supreme Court had directed the authorities to forthwith release all minors detained in connection with the demonstrations. While permitting the police to continue investigating the FIRs registered in relation to the protests, it restrained the authorities from taking any coercive action against students unless they had criminal antecedents.
