Vandalism outside Kejriwal’s residence: HC says ‘unruly’ crowd sought to create fear, police force was inadequate
India Today
The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the police to file a status report on the alleged vandalism outside Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s house earlier this week.
The Delhi High Court Friday asked the police to file a status report on the alleged vandalism outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s 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 “outnumbered”.
Hearing 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 cover.
“Some 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 observed.
The court noted that a video of the incident showed an unruly crowd defacing the property and breaking the boom-barrier and “people tried to climb over the gate (but) it appears that was not their intent”.
“You tell us what you have done. There should be something before us,” it said.
Delhi 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 concerns.
He added that all the evidence, including the CCTV footage from cameras around the chief minister’s residence as well as the arterial roads towards it, would be preserved.
