Unmanned barricades still rampant in Capital: Delhi HC

A bench of justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal directed the police to file a report on this instance and also give data on how many barricades have been put up by each police station in the national capital, how many of those are by manned by Delhi Police staff and how many by resident welfare associations (RWA)

The Delhi high court on Monday noted that unmanned barricades continue to cause problems to the people in the city despite undertakings by the police, as it cited an incident where a judge faced problems while attending to a medical emergency in his family.

The court’s observation came while hearing a suo motu petition on the alleged menace caused by illegal unmanned barricades in the city. (AFP)

A bench of justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal directed the police to file a report on this instance and also give data on how many barricades have been put up by each police station in the national capital, how many of those are by manned by Delhi Police staff and how many by resident welfare associations (RWA).

“The status report will also indicate whether night patrolling staff informs the SHO when any unmanned barricade is found, be it of an RWA or of the Delhi Police. The status report with details of all the police stations shall be filed before the next date of hearing under the signature of the Delhi police commissioner,” the bench said.

The matter would next be heard on January 9, 2023.

The court’s observation came while hearing a suo motu petition on the alleged menace caused by illegal unmanned barricades in the city. The public interest litigation (PIL) was registered by the court while converting a letter written by Om Prakash Goel, claiming to be the president of the Delhi Pradeshik Aggarwal Sammelan.

Goel, in his letter dated December 10, 2021, had written to the Prime Minister about the misery caused to the people due to blockades by unmanned barricades. However, the letter, reached the Delhi high court, which converted it into a PIL, stating that the matter needs “consideration”.

On Monday, the court told the Delhi Police’s counsel that it had earlier expressed apprehensions that in case of a medical emergency, these unmanned barricades block the road, causing inconvenience to people.

“This eventually happened when one of the sitting judges had to take his mother to a hospital in the Greater Kailash area and he could not reach anywhere,” the bench said, adding that the incident took place on the intervening night of October 26-27 on the roads leading to the National Heart Institute.

Taking exception to this incident, the court said, “We are telling you about a specific instance. When we can see it, why can’t you see that there are still unmanned barricades?”

The court said that police is not following its own standing orders on the management of barricades, adding that even for security purposes, the barricades cannot be left unmanned.

“Those are your standing orders and we had only said that you will comply with those,” the bench said.

On September 5, the Delhi Police had told the court that no unmanned barricades will be left on the city streets and people can report against any such barrier at a helpline number or tag police on Twitter for immediate action.

Delhi Police had said that new guidelines have been issued by them which has underlined that no barricades will be put on roads during peak hours unless there is specific input or information regarding law and order or crime detection under the order of a senior officer of deputy commissioner of police (DCP) rank.

The police, in its standing order, had also instructed its officers that while giving approval to barricaded checking, the district DCP would consider that checking be allowed during peak hours only in case of exigency.