A contempt petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar, IPS, alleging that Delhi Police personnel resorted to indiscriminate violence against citizens during the protests against the Chief Election Commissioner in the national capital on October 10, in violation of the principles laid down by the Court.

Filed by advocate Aman Prasad, the petition alleges that police personnel detained and assaulted several unarmed citizens, manhandled women protesters and operated without visible name tags or identifiers.

The petitioner has alleged that the police action violated the Supreme Court's earlier orders in Shailendra Mani Tripathi v. Union of India, which dealt with allegations of police excesses during the July student protests in Delhi, and its October 9 order in M.A. Baby v. Union of India concerning restrictions on public transport during protests.

The petition underscores that the Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasised the right of citizens to assemble peacefully and express dissent, the requirement of proportionality in police action, and the impermissibility of blanket restrictions on fundamental rights on the ground of potential public disorder.

According to the petition, protesters near Jantar Mantar, INA and Dilli Haat were subjected to physical violence. It alleges that a protester was lifted, thrown to the ground and beaten by police personnel near INA, while Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat was dragged along the road by police personnel near the Safdarjung Airport flyover.

The petitioner has further alleged that a young advocate who intervened when police personnel were allegedly pulling at a woman's trousers near INA was beaten, sustained head injuries and was detained before being taken to a hospital in Chhatarpur Enclave.

The petition also alleges that women protesters were manhandled by male police officers. It refers to videos purportedly showing a woman being dragged by her hair inside a detention bus and a woman journalist being dragged across the road towards a bus.

Another allegation concerns the detention of journalist Ayush Tiwari of Scroll outside HKS Surjeet Bhawan, despite him allegedly displaying his press pass while covering the protests.

The petitioner has also alleged that police personnel were deployed at protest sites without visible name tags, despite the Supreme Court having previously flagged the issue of identification of officers involved in crowd-control operations.

Further, the petition claims that restrictions imposed during the protests included the closure of 45 out of 57 metro stations, road blockades, restrictions on movement and a shutdown of mobile internet in parts of Central Delhi.

The petitioner contends that these measures violated the Supreme Court's October 9 order, which had observed that restrictions on public transport should be proportionate and that essential services could not be subjected to a blanket prohibition in the name of controlling potential crowd movements.

The petition relies on the Supreme Court's July 28 and August 18 orders in Shailendra Mani Tripathi, in which the Court considered allegations of excessive force against protesters and constituted a High-Powered Enquiry Committee to examine alleged police excesses, including the treatment of women protesters, the use of force and the accountability of officers in the chain of command.

Seeking accountability for the alleged violations, the petitioner has urged the Supreme Court to initiate contempt proceedings against the Delhi Police Commissioner for wilful disobedience of its earlier orders and pass appropriate further directions.

The petition is likely to be mentioned today before the bench of Justice Joymayla Bagchi and Justice V Mohana which is holding a Sunday sitting for hearing another similar contempt petition, as well as Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy's petition against detentions of political leaders in Delhi yesterday.

The petitiion has been filed through AoR Pooja Dhar.