Kapil Sibal Condemns Delhi Police Action Against Students In CJP Protest, Calls For Independent Investigation

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal on Tuesday condemned the alleged police violence against students participating in the CJP march and called for an independent investigation into the Delhi Police's claims that its personnel were injured during the protest. Sibal warned that unless the claims are independently verified, the police could later implicate peaceful protesters in criminal cases, including under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), as was done following the 2020 Delhi protests against CAA.Questioning the Delhi Police's use of force and lathi-charge against unarmed students and protestors, he asked how any government can take such brute measures against its own citizens for merely raising issues of persistent paper leaks and other irregularities in entrance examinations."A government that doesn't listen should not be listened to...If the children wanted to be violent, they would have been when Sonam Wangchuk was taken away by the police in the fashion he was taken away. They were not violent, so then why were stones brought there, and who brought that truck and van, which was dented? First, an investigation should be done there...My worry is, slowly after a few days, FIRs will be filed by the police personnel themselves. They will name those they want to target as they did in Delhi riots. Then they will impose UAPA and other provisions against them and keep them in jail for 3-4 years to teach a lesson not just to them but also to the parents and family. "Therefore, he demanded that the government should reveal the names of all police officers who have been injured, including the type of injury they have suffered and the medical report, so that no belated FIRs can be filed accusing students of crimes they never committed. "My concern is, what happened in the Delhi riots when the injured became the accused will happen here. We know who all were the targets in the Delhi riots, and we all know who targeted them, and we all know what kind of statements were being made, and the people targeted were kept in jail for years for no fault of theirs. Some of them are still in jail."Sibal stated that many students have called for an investigation into how the stones and a damaged van were seen at the protest site, similar to what has happened during the 2020 riots. He remarked that the protestors should demand accountability from the Centre if they don't want to suffer the same fate as those student protestors during the 2020 riots."...the police personnel said they were injured. Let's find out; they should give the names of all those policemen who were injured in the circumstances when the children of our country never had any lathi, never had anything that was in their hands with which they could attack anybody. So when did they go to the hospital, what are the medico-legal reports, who have they named in the report, who have they recognised who have hit them. This is necessary because if they say 100 were injured, but the fact is that the newspaper report says about 10 of them... at least they should tell," Sibal demanded.Sibal also criticised the mainstream media for claiming that the protestors want a Nepal-like revolution in India. He remarked that during the anti-corruption movement in 2011, the same media had termed the protests as "Arab Spring," and today they are calling students' protests violent. "Their alignment with the government is so shameful that I shudder to think and wonder if these at all follow the dictums that are necessary to be a true journalist," Sibal said.

Kapil Sibal Condemns Delhi Police Action Against Students In CJP Protest, Calls For Independent Investigation

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

Sibal warned that if there is no independent investigation, the police might invoke UAPA charges against students, alleging they started violence.

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Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

Kapil Sibal Condemns Delhi Police Action Against Students In CJP Protest, Calls For Independent Investigation

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

Sibal warned that if there is no independent investigation, the police might invoke UAPA charges against students, alleging they started violence.

This is a premium content Available exclusively to Our subscribers

INR 1099+GST

Tags

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

This is a premium content
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