New Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma may have come across as a reserved person while dealing with the media, but so far he has ensured there was no scope for rumours whenever something controversial happened.
Mr. Verma ensures that the “facts” of any controversial case are shared with the media before rumour-mongering begins. The latest example was on Saturday when Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was attacked with a shoe. Within hours of the incident, the police had sent out a note sharing the details of the assailant and mentioning that he had been arrested.
Earlier, when the Delhi Police were in the dock over allegations of trying to save the culprits in the sensational fatal accident involving a Mercedes car, the damage was controlled by informing the media that they had booked and arrested even the suspected minor driver’s father for abetment to the crime. Around the same time, but in another incident, the police took the first step by informing the media that three of their personnel had been arrested for trying to extort Rs. 20 lakh from a man in Dwarka. Instead of showing the police in bad light, the pro-active step ended up showing that the police were committed to acting against the corrupt in its own department.
After weeks of speculation, two Judges of the Delhi High Court were transferred to other High Courts last week with the Union Law Ministry issuing notifications asking them to take charge by April 15, as recommended by the Supreme Court’s Collegium.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher has been shifted to Madras High Court and Justice Suresh Kait to Andhra Pradesh High Court. The transfer of Justice Shakdher came as a surprise, as he was liked and respected by the Bar for the boldness of his judgments.
Justice Shakdher’s verdict making strong observations against the Union government for trying to target Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai made headlines last year.
The Judge received support from several senior advocates of the apex court, who wrote to the Collegium with the request to review its decision, pointing out that he enjoyed full confidence of the legal fraternity. The Collegium, however, remained unfazed.
Amid all the buzz in the corridors of the High Court, Justice Shakdher, who was elevated to the Bench from the Bar of the Capital, maintained a stoic silence and continued with his judicial work with a new roster of company matters assigned to him recently.
The High Court held a full court reference over the weekend to bid farewell to Justice Shakdher and Justice Kait, while the High Court Bar Association also organised a get-together to give a warm send-off to the two Judges.
Minutes after confidently announcing the initial modalities related to ‘odd-even’ part 2, Transport Minister Gopal Rai asked a group of journalists about their opinion on the success of the second phase of the road rationing scheme in earnest.
“So, what’s the report?” he asked with a sheepish smile. “Will the government be able to pull it off this time or not; what are you hearing?”
Assured that the scheme was more than likely to go off well, the visibly relieved minister was about to walk off when he was confronted with another question that would perplex him albeit for a moment.
“What about the exemption to schoolkids, Sir?” Mr. Rai was asked. “If children have problems, won’t it reflect badly on the scheme this time?” The sheepish grin then returned to the minister’s face before he replied, "Yes, yes, it’s unnerving us all. Don’t worry, we’ll work something out.”
That, however, was not to be, what with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announcing that the Capital’s parents would just have to bear with finding viable alternatives for themselves to bypass the newly-added exemption while after dropping or before picking up their wards from schools.
At the forefront of Aam Aadmi Party’s protest against the BJP for allying with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir and forming government, Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra found a new way of expressing his thoughts. Mr. Mishra penned a poem, ‘Jai Bolo Bharat Mata Ki’, and turned it into a four-minute video.
The video clip has pictures of Mehbooba Mufti and Nawaz Sharif, with Mr. Mishra’s voice in the background slamming the BJP for its ‘double standards’.
(Contributed by Shiv Sunny, Mohammed Iqbal, Jatin Anand and Maria Akram)
