SC, NJRC take cognizance of police action

More than sixty people were injured in the midnight crackdown on the Baba and his supporters at Ramlila Grounds

SC, NJRC take cognizance of police action

More than sixty people were injured in the midnight crackdown on the Baba and his supporters at Ramlila Grounds

BJP leader Smirti Irani along with a women's delegation submitted a
memorandum to Yasmin Abrar,member of National Commission
for Women in New Delhi on Monday, against police atrocities on women
during satyagraha of Baba Ramdev. Pic/Rajeev Tyagi

Show over: Workers remove the Pandal at Ramlila Grounds on Monday.
PIC/Imtiyaz Khan

"This will reinstate people's faith in the judiciary. I thank the Supreme Court for the notice to the Centre," Ramdev said addressing his supporters in Haridwar, where he has resumed his fast. Even the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday asked the Union and Delhi governments to submit reports within two weeks on the matter. Taking cognizance of police swooping on "sleeping protesters", the National Human Rights Commission issued notices to the Union home secretary, Delhi chief secretary and city police commissioner in the matter, asking them to explain reason for taking such a step. The NHRC said it is "pained to see media reports and complaints alleging unconstitutional police action in the midnight involving shelling of tear gas shells, lathicharge and forceful eviction of a large number of people sleeping under the pandal."
There have been reports of injuries to several persons, including children, women and senior citizens and several persons have been reported missing, it noted.

"As the incident has a bearing on human rights, the commission issues notices to the Union home secretary, chief secretary, government of Delhi, and theu00a0u00a0 commissioner of police, Delhi, calling for their reports within two weeks in the matter," the commission said. The officers will also inform the commission specifically on some points, including reasons for resorting to such an action in midnight, how many people were injured and is there any proposal to compensate them and how many people were missing and what steps have been taken to trace them.

Special session
Meanwhile, an opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) team met President Pratibha Patil on Monday and demanded a special session of Parliament to discuss the crackdown on yoga guru Baba Ramdev as well as corruption-related issues, saying the government must explain its "brutal action". The delegation was led by top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and also had members of the Shiv Sena, Akali Dal and Janata Dal-United. "We met the President to demand a special session of parliament, an emergency session, to discuss issues like corruption, black money stashed away in foreign banks and the manhandling of peaceful protesters, including women and elderly persons, who gathered to protest against such issues (at Ramlila Ground)," senior BJP leader LK Advani, who led the delegation, told reporters outside Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The crackdown, he added, was "ironically" against a person who was "welcomed by four ministers". "The session will give us the opportunity to put our point of view and the government will also get a chance to present its views so that the guilty can be punished," he said. The leaders called on the President after police forcibly removed Ramdev and thousands of his supporters from the Ramlila ground after Saturday midnight. Ramdev was airlifted to Dehradun from where he was taken to his ashram in Hardwar Sunday morning.

Penal action
They asked the President to "compel" the government to explain its "brutal action", to bring a resolution declaring all Indian money stashed away in foreign banks as "national wealth" and to introduce a "legislation to empower the enforcement authorities to take severe penal action against those who have indulged in such criminal pilferage of national resources". "The President assured us that she will go through our memorandum and take the required action," Advani said. Others in the delegation included senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi and Ananth Kumar.

PM speaks
Breaking his silence on the police action at Ramdev's protest congregation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said it was "unfortunate" but unavoidable even as the political battle on the issue heated up with the BJP knocking at the President's door demanding a special session of Parliament to discuss black money.
In his first comments on the issue, the Prime Minister Singh, who has been accused of mishandling the situation, said, "It is unfortunate that operation had to be conducted but quite honestly, there was no alternative." He asserted that his government was concerned and serious about fighting corruption but maintained that there was "no magic wand" when his comments were sought by reporters on the much-criticised midnight police action to disrupt Ramdev's anti-corruption protest at Ramlila Maidan.

Getting the boot
A man threatened Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi with a shoe at a press conference here on Monday. The latter quickly dubbed it as a pre-planned attack. Dwivedi was busy slamming yoga guru Ramdev and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Congress headquarters here when the incident took place in the full view of TV cameras. It is the latest in a string of shoe-related assaults on public figures in India.The man came very near to the dais where Dwivedi was sitting and waved the shoe at him. But Dwivedi pushed him away. Soon a security guard caught him and journalists present also pounced on the man, who was then whisked away by security men. After he was put in a vehicle and possibly taken to the nearest police station, the Congress leader continued with his address to the media.He described the attempt to hit him with a shoe as "pre-planned".

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels