Vandalism outside Kejriwal's residence: HC says 'unruly' crowd sought to create fear, police force was inadequate

The Delhi High Court Friday asked the police to file a status report on the alleged vandalism outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals residence earlier this week and said the unruly crowd sought to create an element of fear and the police force at the spot was inadequate and outnumberedHearing a petition by AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj concerning the incident a bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla granted two weeks time to Delhi Police to file its status report in sealed coverSome took law into their hands There is element of fear sought to be created That is evident The police force was inadequatethey did try to stop them but they were outnumbered the court observedThe court noted that a video of the incident showed an unruly crowd defacing the property and breaking the boombarrier and people tried to climb over the gate but it appears that was not their intentYou tell us what you have done There should be something before us it saidDelhi Police represented by Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain opposed the issuance of notice on the petition and told the court that the police has registered an FIR on its own in relation to the alleged attack and is taking all steps to address the safety concernsHe added that all the evidence including the CCTV footage from cameras around the chief ministers residence as well as the arterial roads towards it would be preservedDelhi Police will set up a meeting with the CM secretariat We dont know if they are feeling any apprehension said Jain who claimed that instant petition was misconceivedHe added that eight people have already been arrested in connection with the case and investigation is underwayThe petitioners prayer that SIT be constituted is predicated on the assumption that there is no FIR FIR has been registered suo motu by Delhi Police Investigation is on Eight have been arrested Can a petitioner within 24 hours of the incident come before court and say you straightaway constitute an SIT as if no FIR has been registered Jain statedSenior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for the petitioner urged the court to issue notice on the petition and pass a direction for the preservation of CCTV footage of the incidentThe senior lawyer emphasised that the chief minister of any state holds a constitutional position and if it was any other functionary at the top mayhem would break and there would be heads to rollJust because he is the chief minister of Delhi you cant belittle this position Singhvi saidDelhi Police is the last person which is expected to probe its own lapse he addedSenior advocate Rahul Mehra also appearing for the petitioner objected to the registration of an unnamed FIR when there are videos to show the presence of a member of ParliamentThis is too premature stated the court which listed the case for further hearing on April 25Mehra also argued that Delhi Police was not doing charity and heads would roll if a similar incident happened outside the Prime Ministers residenceThere was 20 minutes blockade in Punjab and we know what happened he remarkedBhardwaj in his petition through advocate Bharat Gupta sought the constitution of an SIT to probe the alleged attack and argued that the vandalisation outside 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 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 condonedDeputy 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 cardThe 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 1520 protestors managed to reach the Flag Staff road and were immediately removedSome of the protesters around 1 PM breached two barricades and reached outside Kejriwals house where they created a ruckus and shouted slogans the police had saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever