Committee set up to probe police misbehavior in Ramjas, HC told

The city police on Tuesday informed the Delhi High Court that it has already set up a three-member committee to probe the alleged misbehavior and beating of women students by police during Ramjas College violence last month.

Police told a division bench of Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal that Delhi Commissioner of Police has already constituted a three member committee of Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Deputy Commissioner of Police, Vigilance and DCP, Women-child.A

Observing that National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is taking up the matter, the court granted police four weeks time to file report on the steps it is taking as it disposed off the petition. It however granted liberty to the petitioners to approach it again if said committee does not submit its report to the NHRC in four weeks.

The court was hearing a plea of two Delhi University final-year law students Tarun Narang and Deepak Joshi who sought directions for setting up an independent committee to probe alleged misbehaviour and beating of women students by police during Ramjas college violence last week.

The students also urged the court to issue guidelines to law enforcement agencies while dealing with students and media on university campuses.

The plea said the tension between the opposing groups of students increased despite police presence, after which the situation turned violent and police used excessive force to bring the situation under control.

The two petitioners also accused police of stopping, threatening and manhandling reporters covering the protest march, adding that police also broke the cameras and other equipment of the media persons.

On February 21, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad activists allegedly forced the Ramjas College to cancel a seminar in which Jawaharlal Nehru University student Umar Khalid, charged with sedition last year, was scheduled to participate.

The next day, ABVP activists were accused of attacking students, teachers and journalists during a protest march outside the Ramjas College.

--IANS

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