A distress call came around 11pm on Sunday. Within minutes, a message went out to lawyer groups. By the time Shobhit Chaudhary had spoken to the police point of contact, independent lawyers near Najafgarh had been located and dispatched.
Thirty to 40 people were being held at Najafgarh in southwest Delhi, five or six of them minors, and some claiming to be injured.
Chaudhary said their team also found several minors at a detention centre in outer Delhi and that some released detainees were injured. Any lawyer present when a detainee is released must make sure a Medico-Legal Certificate is made. On Sunday, the Supreme Court held a special sitting and ordered that peaceful, unarmed protesters not be detained except through the procedure established by law, and that normal metro and rail services and internet connectivity be restored. As the Delhi Police detained thousands on Saturday, many were stopped at checkpoints while trying to enter central Delhi.
The detentions continued regardless. The detainees included leaders of student organisations and political parties. Many allege aggression occurs in detention rather than in custody. He highlighted recurring complaints. “That kind of preventive detention is really out of order. It is definitely not lawful. If there is a grievance, the lawyer must give a handwritten complaint to the station house officer (SHO) on the spot and take a receipt. If the SHO refuses, the lawyer photographs the complaint on their desk and emails it to the station, copying Delhi Police headquarters.
“So that there is a record of these things happening. The first is that people were detained before reaching the protest site, or outside the area where the prohibitory order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita was in force. Chaudhary added that one group of 20-22 young men who had travelled to Delhi for the protest were picked up near Anand Vihar and held in a building. They were given bananas, and nothing else until about 2.30pm, and their phones were taken from them.
Chaudhary said the accounts reaching the group describe a mixed picture. Chaudhary said there were also reports of detainees being pushed and hurt inside some centres. He said detainees went without food for long stretches. The group has devised what Chaudhary calls a “protocol” because most allegations of abuse surface only after a detainee is released. Chaudhary said senior lawyers are now involved, and the matter is likely to go to the court, seeking answers from Delhi Police and the Union home ministry. “This cannot be forgotten,” he said. “If this is a problem today, it will be a problem tomorrow or the day after.”
