The Delhi Police has defended its actions during the July 20 ‘Sansad Chalo’ protest, asserting that it employed a ‘graded’ response only after the demonstration turned violent. According to police statements made to the Supreme Court, protesters breached multiple barricades and attempted to advance towards Parliament, prompting the use of force to maintain order.
Police cites protest restrictions
The matter is scheduled to come up before the Chief Justice of India-led bench on Tuesday. The affidavit has been filed in response to petitions seeking a court-monitored investigation into alleged police excesses and is intended to serve as a common response in four connected petitions. The affidavit ultimately leaves the question of whether the force crossed the permissible limit to the Court’s proposed fact-finding mechanism, while insisting that the police response was necessary, proportionate and undertaken only after the situation had escalated.
The police has also sought to counter the petitioners’ reliance on photographs, video clips and media and social-media reports, saying these materials were selective, incomplete and not independently verified and therefore presented only one side of the events without capturing the police’s efforts to control the situation. In a counter-affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, deputy commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma said that the allegation of excessive force was unsustainable given the scale of the gathering, claiming that about 5,000 police personnel were deployed to manage more than 30,000 protesters spread across nearly three kilometres. The police said that the ensuing confrontation left more than 240 police and uniformed personnel and around 200 protesters/public persons injured.
The police said its personnel initially attempted to regulate and contain the gathering, but the situation deteriorated after protesters allegedly breached successive barricades and moved towards Parliament despite there being no permission for a Parliament march. At the same time, the police has told the Supreme Court that the question whether the force used was excessive can appropriately be examined by the committee proposed to be constituted by the Court, and that it would cooperate with such an exercise.
