NEW DELHI: CPI Rajya Sabha leader P Sandosh Kumar, who was detained during a protest at Jantar Mantar on Friday, has written to Union home minister Amit Shah seeking his intervention over alleged police violence, arbitrary detentions and the concealment of identification badges by Delhi Police personnel.The protest was held over concerns surrounding the functioning of the Election Commission of India, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, changes to Form-6 and the poll body’s IT systems. Protesters had also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.Kumar said he was among those detained along with workers and members of the CPI(M), CPI(ML)L, AAP, AISF, AIYF, SFI, DYFI, AISA and civil society groups.“I was myself detained yesterday along with workers of my party, the CPI(M), CPI(ML)L, AAP, cadres of the AISF, AIYF, SFI, DYFI, AISA and members of the civil society,” Kumar said in his letter.Kumar alleged that police had responded to peaceful protests with “violence, mass detentions, internet shutdowns and manhandling”, rather than facilitating the exercise of democratic rights.A key concern raised by the CPI leader was the alleged absence of visible name plates or identification badges on some police personnel involved in detentions and crowd-control measures.Referring to the Supreme Court’s directions in the D K Basu vs State of West Bengal case, Kumar said police personnel carrying out arrests or handling detainees were required to bear “accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags with their designations”. He also cited Delhi Police Standing Order No 51, which prescribes visible name plates as part of the uniform.“This is not a minor procedural matter: identification is fundamental to accountability when the State exercises coercive power against citizens,” Kumar said.Kumar also referred to reports and visual material from an earlier protest on July 20, alleging that plain-clothes personnel and officers without visible identification badges had used force against protesters.“The fact that the same conduct was repeated on October 2 makes the matter serious,” he said.The CPI leader also sought an inquiry into the alleged use of facial-recognition technology at Jantar Mantar. He referred to an investigation which, he said, found discrepancies between people identified through the system as present at a student protest and records showing some of them were already in jail in connection with criminal cases.Kumar called for a time-bound inquiry into the use of force, alleged arbitrary detentions, concealment of identification badges, manhandling of protesters, deployment of plain-clothes personnel and use of facial-recognition systems.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
He urged Shah to direct that people exercising their right to peaceful protest be protected and that police personnel deployed for crowd-control and detention duties remain identifiable.“Democratic dissent cannot be met with methods reminiscent of the British Raj police,” Kumar said.“Delhi Police must understand that its duty is to protect citizens and facilitate their constitutional rights, not to intimidate, assault or silence them,” he added.