Uttam Nagar Holi Clash: Delhi High Court Orders Police To Ensure Safety Of Public During Eid In PIL To Prevent Communal Violence

The Delhi High Court on Thursday (March 19) directed the Delhi Police to take all necessary action to ensure that public life is not disrupted during Eid Festivities, in connection with an incident which took place in Uttam Nagar following the killing of a 26-year-old man in a clash during Holi.The court further directed the Police to make arrangements which should "instil essence of security and safety to all" and further directed the authorities to ensure that "no one" from any section of society is permitted to cause "mischief having the potential of creating any untoward situation". The court was hearing a plea by Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) seeking urgent directions on the State and police authorities for alleged failure to act against escalating communal tensions.After hearing the matter for some time, a division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia in its order dictated:"Eid is celebrated to rejoice. It is duty of all concerned to ensure that on such pious occasion, public life is not disrupted by any untoward incident involving hooliganism by any individual or any section of society. It is needless to observe that it is duty of State specially police force to ensure that every citizen is able to observe his religious rights and celebrations of festivals. The apprehensions expressed in petition appears to be based on incident which occurred on March 4 and therefore, police have to be extra cautious.Various police action have been taken to ensure Eid passes peacefully but we may emphasise if on assessment of situation, any need arises to strengthen arrangement, measures as required shall be taken forthwith. Apart from taking preventive action , police is expected to ensure that all sections of society maintain restraint considering the past incident. The situation as described in petition not only calls upon authorities to be at constant strict vigil but it also calls upon members of different sections of society to maintain constraint and conduct themselves in manner which may promote peace and harmony and not cause any situation which may turn ugly. We direct the police and civil administration of the area to take all required action permissible under law to ensure situation does not take any ugly turn and an atmosphere is created conducive to peaceful Eid. Police arrangements should be such to instil essence of security and safety to all. The authorities shall ensure that no one from any section of society is permitted to play any mischief having the potential of creating any untoward situation". The court directed the police arrangements in place shall continue till festival of Ram Navami.In its order the court took note of the petition which apprehends a law and order situation which according to petitioner may cause disruption in public life on Eid day which is to be celebrated tomorrow. "It has been stated by petitioner counsel that the apprehension expressed in petition emanates from backdrop of an incident which unfortunately occurred on March 4 in which a 26 year-old-youth died and though, the incident was local in nature, however the death caused wide ranging reaction from people belonging to different communities. Counsel for Petitioner states that in wake of the incident, certain sections in the society may disrupt public life on Eid which situation needs to be averted and all preventive measures should be taken by authorities. It has also been stated in petition that all sorts of social media posts are doing rounds causing tension in different sections of society which also needs to be curbed and action in relation to such posts be taken," the court noted. The court noted the submission of Standing counsel representing the Delhi Government, who on instructions from the local police submitted that since March 5 itself, adequate police arrangements have been made which are in place on round the clock basis not only in JJ colony where incident occurred but also in surrounding areas.It was stated to the Court that adequate police personnel, even CAPF personnel have already been deployed for security arrangements to ensure that Eid festival passes without any such untoward incident. The counsel further stated that "8 companies of armed police personnel have been deployed in all 11 police stations of Dwarka district" and "four companies comprising of 400 police personnel are on vigil having vernacular deployed to ensure law and order situation along with 400 armed personnel of district force". The court was also informed that monitoring of social media is done on various platforms and on the directions of police, 50 inflammatory posts have been taken down and requests have been made to various platforms to take down 174 posts. Further police has undertaken intensive verification program and antecedents of 8862 persons in the area have been done and Aman Committee meetings have been organised at police station and district levels. Apart from this...

Uttam Nagar Holi Clash: Delhi High Court Orders Police To Ensure Safety Of Public During Eid In PIL To Prevent Communal Violence

Nupur Thapliyal

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