New Delhi Apr 25 PTI Calling it a very disturbing state of affairs the Delhi High Court on Monday voiced displeasure over the failure of the police to prevent the incident of vandalism at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals residence last month and directed the city police commissioner to fix responsibility for the serious lapse Scores of protesters belonging to the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha BJYM the youth wing of the BJP had allegedly breached the barricades to reach the entrance of the chief ministers residence and destroyed public property in the presence of police A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi which was hearing a plea by AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj about the March 30 attack during a protest against Kejriwals remarks on The Kashmir Files a film on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits said it was clear that there was a failure on the part of the police and that the bandobast security arrangement was inadequate The bandobast made outside the residence of the CM and the road leading to the residence in the wake of the permission sought on behalf of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha which was declined was not adequate said the bench also comprising Justice Navin Chawla The court took note of the status report filed by the police on the incident which said certain miscreants breached the barricades and reached the gate of the residence and said In our view the aforesaid lapse is a serious lapse and should be looked at by the Commissioner of Police Delhi Police This kind of incident happening at the residence of any constitutional functionary whether it is the CM it could be a judge of the high court or Supreme Court it could be any other Union Minister this is a very disturbing state of affairs that this kind of a thing could in the first place occur or such miscreants should succeed in their endeavour the court said Wondering how could the protesters breach three layers of barricades the court said if it so happened the police should look at its own efficiency and functioning It is very clear that there has been a failure on part of the force to prevent the incident We want the Commissioner of Police to look into the lapse on part of the police the court observed The court questioned if additional force was called in when the first barricade was broken or the mob reached the chief ministers residence and said the issue of security arrangement needs investigation at the highest level He CP should inquire into firstly whether bandobast was adequate secondly the reasons for the failure of the arrangements made and thirdly fix the responsibility for the lapse which admittedly has occurred the court stated The bench noted it was not satisfied with the status report which was submitted in a sealed cover as far as the security arrangement was concerned and granted two weeks to the police commissioner to file a further status report including on the aspect of the review of the chief ministers security In case of any lapse in the investigation in the matter the magistrate concerned may look into it and there are judicial remedies available it added Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain appearing for the Delhi Police contended that since the investigation was going on and a review of the CMs security has been undertaken the petition should be closed He added that although the incident ought to not have happened a failure does not mean that the bandobast was fundamentally flawed Once there is a failure it has to come with consequences Responsibility has to be fixed so that remedial action is taken This is a very important facet of democracy irrespective of our ideology just like we say nobody can say he is not our PM It is the constitutional office we are concerned with It is not about A individual or B individual the court said Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Rahul Mehta appearing for the petitioner urged the court to constitute an SIT for an impartial and independent probe into the incident which was no laughing matter Singhvi claimed that certain persons who were seen in the videos and pictures of the incident were later felicitated by a political party Bhardwaj in his petition filed through advocate Bharat Gupta has sought constitution of an SIT to probe the attack and argued that the vandalisation of the official residence of the chief minister during a protest against his remarks on The Kashmir Files appears to have been carried out with Delhi Polices tacit complicity On March 30 2022 several BJP goons in the garb of a protest launched an attack on the official residence of the Delhi CM Videos and photographs show that these goons 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 while Delhi Police personnel simply looked on doing little to stop the protestors the plea alleged On April 1 the high court had sought a status report from the police on the incident and said an element of fear was sought to be created by the unruly crowd and the police force at the spot was inadequate and outnumbered The matter would be heard next on May 17 PTI ADS RKS SK SK

New Delhi Apr 25 PTI The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to look into and fix responsibility for the serious lapse outside the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last month when certain miscreants breached the barricades reached the gate and destroyed public property A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi which was hearing a plea by AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj concerning the alleged attack outside the CMs residence on March 30 during a protest against his remarks on The Kashmir Files film said that it was clear there was a failure on the part of the police force and that the bandobast security arrangement was inadequate The bandobast made outside the residence of the CM and the road leading to the residence in the wake of the permission sought on behalf of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha which was declined was not adequate said the bench also comprising Justice Navin Chawla It is very clear that there has been a failure on part of the force to prevent the incident We want the Commissioner of Police to look into the lapse on part of the police the court observed The court noted that as per the status report certain miscreants breached the barricades and reached the gate of the residence and said in our view the aforesaid lapse is a serious lapse and should be looked at by the Commissioner of Police Delhi Police He CP should inquire into firstly whether bandobast was adequate secondly the reasons for the failure of the arrangements made and thirdly fix the responsibility for the lapse which admittedly has occurred it added The court stated that it was not satisfied with the police status report which was given in a sealed cover as far as the security arrangement was concerned and granted two weeks to the police commissioner to file a further status report including on the aspect of the review of the CMs security In case of any lapse in the investigation in the matter the magistrate concerned may look into it and there are judicial remedies available it added Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain appearing for the Delhi Police stated that the investigation in the matter was ongoing and a review of the CMs security has been undertaken He added that a failure does not mean that the bandobast was fundamentally flawed Once there is a failure there has to come with consequences Responsibility has to be fixed so that remedial action is takenIt is the constitutional office we are concerned with said the bench Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Rahul Mehta appearing for the petitioner urged the court to constitute an SIT for an impartial probe into the incident Bhardwaj in his petition through advocate Bharat Gupta has sought the constitution of an SIT to probe the alleged attack and argued that the vandalisation of the official residence of the Chief Minister during a protest against his remarks on The Kashmir Files film appears to have been carried out with Delhi Polices tacit complicity On March 30 2022 several BJP goons in the garb of a protest launched an attack on the official residence of the Delhi CM Videos and photographs show that these goons 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 while Delhi Police personnel simply looked on doing little to stop the protestors the plea alleged The MLA said while he strongly supports the right to protest peacefully even if such protest is against the Delhi Government violence cannot and ought not to be permitted and condoned On April 1 the high court had sought a status report from the police concerning the incident and said that an element of fear was sought to be created by the unruly crowd and the police force at the spot was inadequate and outnumbered The matter would be heard next on May 17 PTI ADS RKS RKS

New Delhi Mar 31 PTI AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj Thursday approached the Delhi High Court seeking constitution of a Special Investigation Team SIT for a fair and time bound investigation into the alleged attack outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a protest against his remarks on The Kashmir Files filmThe petition which has also sought directions to Delhi Police and Ministry of Home Affairs for ensuring the security of the Chief Minister and his residence in future is likely to be listed for hearing on FridayOn Wednesday members of the BJP youth wing had allegedly vandalised property outside the residence of AAP convenor Kejriwal here during a protest against his remarks on the film after which a criminal case was registered by the Delhi Police against unidentified persons in connection with the incidentThe case was registered under various provisions of the IPC including Sections 186 obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions 188 disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant 353 assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty and 332 voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his dutySection 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act has also been invoked and police was trying to make arrestsBhardwaj in his petition through advocate Bharat Gupta alleged that the attack and vandalisation of the official residence of the Chief Minister appears to have been carried out with Delhi Polices tacit complicityOn March 30 2022 several BJP goons in the garb of a protest launched an attack on the official residence of the Delhi CM Videos and photographs show that these goons 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 while Delhi Police personnel simply looked on doing little to stop the protestors the plea allegedThe MLA said while he strongly supports the right to protest peacefully even if such protest is against the Delhi Government violence cannot and ought not to be permitted and condonedIn this case the violence was especially egregious as it was directed towards the Delhi CM and his family It was meant to subdue by the use of force the highest elected official in NCT of Delhi and therefore the elected Government of Delhi This was a direct attack on democracy the plea saidIt added that those who were charged with protection of the Delhi CM that is Delhi Police completely abdicated their duty without any regard for the fact that they were protecting an elected constitutional functionary and the fact that he was given Z security by Delhi Police itselfIt said the polices inaction was in blatant violation of the high courts August 22 2017 wherein the Delhi Police was directed to ensure that no unnecessary protest takes place on the road in front of the Delhi CMs house as it is a residential areaIn light of this the petitioner is constrained to directly approach this court seeking a constitution of an SIT headed by a retired Judge of this court to undertake an independent fair and time bound criminal investigation into the attack including the role of Delhi Police officers who were responsible for maintaining the security cordon outside the Delhi CMs residence b directions for appropriate prosecutionaction against the identified accused personsculprits and c direction to the respondents to ensure appropriate security of the Chief Minister of Delhis person and his residence in future it saidDeputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging it was a conspiracy to kill Kejriwal as the saffron party was unable to defeat the Aam Aadmi Party in elections The BJP had accused AAP of scripting a drama and playing the victim card after the public anger against Kejriwals remarks mocking displaced Kashmiri PanditsThe protestors led by BJP Yuva Morchas national president and MP Tejasvi Surya were holding a demonstration against Kejriwals remarks on the recently released controversial movie The Kashmir Files which is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley after the outbreak of militancyThe Chief Ministers residence is located at 6 Flag Staff Road The protest started around 1130 am on March 30 The Delhi Police said proper arrangements were put in place but some 15-20 protestors managed to reach the Flag Staff road and were immediately removedSome of the protesters at around 1 PM breached two barricades and reached outside CM House where they created a ruckus and shouted slogans the police had saidThey were carrying a small box of paint from which they threw paint outside the door In the melee a boom barrier arm was also found vandalised as also a CCTV camera A police team immediately removed them from the spot and detained around 70 persons it had said PTI SKV SA