Video clips of policemen dragging and assaulting a 15-year-old boy and his father, a tempo driver, in broad daylight in north-west Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar drew the ire of the Delhi High Court, which described them as evidence of “police brutality”.
“Why was the boy dragged along the street in broad daylight,” asked a Bench of Justices Jayant Nath and Najmi Waziri after watching video footage of the Sunday incident, which has since snowballed into a political issue.
“How can you [Delhi police counsel] standing for the State justify the action of the five police officers who ran after a 15-year-old boy who had been trying to take his father away,” the Bench asked.
“If this is not evidence of police brutality then what more do you need? This is a case of extensive disquiet in society. How can any uniformed force do this? This would scare the citizens,” the Bench added.
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The court also called for an independent report on the incident from an officer of the rank of Joint Commissioner of Police within a week.
The Delhi police’s counsel submitted that cross FIRs have been lodged on the complaints of the two sides and the case transferred to the Crime Branch for a detailed investigation. The counsel further said that three officers involved in the incident have been suspended. To this, the Bench said, “There are eight to nine police personnel who can be clearly seen [in the videos]… Identify the five officers who dragged the boy along the street, all the while pelting him with sticks, and those who assaulted the father.”
The High Court also issued notices to the police, the Centre and the city government on a petition filed in public interest seeking a CBI probe into the incident.
It posted the matter for further hearing on July 2.
One of the petitioners, advocate Seema Singhal, has sought framing of appropriate guidelines for police reforms to prevent such “violent acts of police brutality and excessive force”.
“A service gun was pointed towards the minor boy by these policemen threatening him with dire consequences,” her petition stated, adding that “the atrocities committed by the police amount to violation of Section 4 of the Model Code of Conduct for the police”.
