Ruckus at House panel meet: BJP, Congress MPs spar over use of force on students at July 20 protest | India News
NEW DELHI: Opposition MPs on Tuesday clashed with ruling party members during a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs over a demand to discuss alleged police excesses against students during the July 20 protest march, news agency ANI reported, citing sources.During the meeting on “crime against children”, Congress MP Ajay Maken submitted a letter seeking a discussion on the alleged use of pellet guns and lathicharge against students during the Jantar Mantar protest, sources told ANI.Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also learnt to have raised the issue, sources added.Opposition MPs argued that several students injured in the lathicharge were minors and that the matter therefore fell within the broader scope of ‘Crime Against Children’.However, committee chairman Radha Mohan Das Agarwal rejected the demand, citing the Supreme Court’s decision to set up a high-level committee to examine allegations of police excesses as well as violence by protesters during the demonstrations.Sources told ANI that a heated exchange took place between a BJP and a Congress member during the meeting, leading the chairman to ask members to restrict the discussion to the listed agenda.This comes days after the Supreme Court constituted a five-member high-powered expert committee to conduct a fact-finding exercise into allegations of police excesses during the march.The committee comprises former Punjab and Haryana high court chief justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi high court Justice Shalinder Kaur, former CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla and former Meghalaya DGP LR Bishnoi.
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A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said the panel would examine grievances raised by both protesters and police authorities in connection with the demonstrations.The bench directed the HPEC to prioritise allegations of excessive use of force by police, violence by protesters, and alleged harassment and molestation of women protesters. It also allowed the panel to examine whether interim compensation should be provided to people injured during the protests, including police personnel and protesters.The Supreme Court further directed that CCTV recordings of the protests and body-camera footage from police and security personnel, which had earlier been ordered to be preserved, be handed over to the committee for examination.The court clarified that the formation of the HPEC would not prevent police or other security authorities from initiating departmental or disciplinary proceedings against officers found to have violated applicable rules.
