SC satisfied with police handling of Kejriwal protest

Days after ticking off Delhi Police for allowing protest by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal near Parliament, the Supreme Court today expressed satisfaction over the way the agitation was handled, saying it had acted "swiftly" and did what was required.
After going through the affidavit filed by Delhi Police giving details of how it handled the agitation last week, a bench headed by Justice R M Lodha refused to pass any direction against the force, noting that no further action is required to be taken.
"They have acted swiftly and quickly registered the FIR for violation of Section 144 (prohibitory orders). They placed additional barricades at the site of dharna. We cannot go into the details and court cannot substitute its opinion on it," the bench said.

"Decisions were taken fast and they were not dormant and idle," the bench said, adding, "They have done what was required to be done".
On the last hearing on January 24, the bench had slammed the law enforcing agencies for allowing unlawful assembly of supporters of the Chief Minister in the heart of the national capital and had sought response from police.
Police in its reply said it had exercised maximum restraint and dealt with protesters with patience despite sustained provocation.
AAP party workers led by Kejriwal went on agitation on January 20 demanding action against policemen who refused to carry out a raid on an alleged drug and prostitution ring on the directive of Delhi minister Somnath Bharti. The agitation was called off the next day.

The apex court was hearing a PIL filed by a Supreme Court lawyer seeking action against police for allowing Kejriwal and his supporters to hold the agitation outside Rail Bhavan.