SC junks petition seeking independent probe into Delhi Police FIRs during CJP-led July protests

“You say we should not have invoked Article 142 and quashed FIRs. Please appreciate, these are young students. We have to see their parents, their future. We don’t want them to have to come to court over and over again,” the Bench noted.

The top court has already constituted a high-powered enquiry committee (HPEC) led by former Supreme Court judge R Subhash Reddy to look into allegations of excessive use of force by the police, violence against security personnel and damage to public property, besides harassment of women during the July 20 CJP-led protests.

It also refused the petitioner’s prayer to declare that police, like the judiciary, exercise sovereign and independent functions in maintaining law and order and investigate crimes, free from interference unless their actions were contrary to law.

The Bench referred to its recent order quashing a number of criminal cases in Himachal Pradesh over public protests held during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying the protesters were young students and not hardened criminals. “In Himachal Pradesh, they sat on dharna, they caused loss to public property. But when there was COVID, people of this country were not ready to face this kind of crisis, so people reacted in a way they could react,” CJI Kant noted.