SC seeks AAP Govt reply on dharna
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s two-day dharna in the Raisina Hill area that witnessed clashes between Delhi Police and Aam Aadmi Party volunteers has come under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court.
On a PIl filed by advocate Ml Sharma, the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday set out to examine whether the Constitution permitted an elected Chief Minister to be a lawmaker and a lawbreaker simultaneously. The PIl said Kejriwal’s conduct violated the Oath of Secrecy under the Constitution, as Article 256 required him to ensure compliance of laws passed by Parliament. Instead, by seeking suspension of police officers who had booked one of his Cabinet Ministers for conducting an illegal raid and causing harassment to foreign women, he interfered with the process of law laid down by the Indian Penal Code.
The SC also pulled up the Delhi Police over its inaction to prevent such an unlawful assembly. On a separate petition filed by one N Rajaraman, the court made two pointed queries to the police. “Why, despite the prohibitory order under Section 144 CrPC, the law enforcement machinery/police permitted five or more people to assemble unlawfully,” said a bench of Justices RM lodha and Shiva Kirti Singh.
The SC also wished to know “Whether the law enforcement machinery/police acted appropriately and with utmost expedition in dispersing an unlawful assembly by force under Section 129(2) of CrPC after such an assembly was asked to disperse and despite such a command, the assembly did not disperse.”
On the above two issues, the Delhi Police was asked to give an explanation by January 31. Without issuing a notice to Kejriwal or his Cabinet colleague and Delhi law Minister Somnath Bharti, the SC sought responses from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Delhi Government to address the alleged breach of Constitutional provisions. Their responses will be taken up after six weeks.
The Delhi Police, represented by Additional Solicitor-General Sidharth luthra came under fire as the court wondered what prevented the police from acting in time and stopping the people from gathering in the first place.