House panel grills cops over protests

New Delhi, January 13

The Delhi Police Commissioner and senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today appeared before a parliamentary panel where they were grilled over the use of force against protesting students in the national capital.

Sources said the parliamentary panel meeting, chaired by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma, said the members also suggested that the police could have dealt with the students in a mature manner. “The world over there is the practice that the police identify trouble-makers and take them away and then allow peaceful protests to continue. The police have also been asked to learn best practices in crowd-handling,” a source said.

The members of the committee also put probing questions to the Police Commissioner on the frequent imposition of restrictions in the Capital, which they lamented caused trouble to people on the street.

The meeting was called to discuss the rising crime in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).

The Delhi Police role came under scanner following the violence at Jamia University and in JNU in which many students got injured. There were allegations that the force remained standing at the gates of the JNU campus while a mob attacked students and faculty members inside.

Besides Delhi Police Commissioner, Haryana DGP Manoj Yadava and senior officials of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan police also briefed the panel on the crime in the NCR. — TNS