On Tis Hazari clash, Delhi police submit report to home ministry

A parking dispute transformed into a clash between the Delhi Police and the lawyers at Tis Hazari on Saturday.

The Delhi Police has submitted a report to the Ministry Home Affairs (MHA) on the violent clash between lawyers and cops last Saturday at Tis Hazari Court in north Delhi.

Lawyers blocked traffic outside the court premises and gathered in large numbers to demonstrate against the Delhi Police after a scuffle between the two groups on Saturday, Monday, November 4, 2019, took place.(Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

“We have received a report from the Delhi Police,” a home ministry spokesperson said but refused to give details. The MHA had asked for a report soon after clash was brought under control on Saturday.

A parking dispute snowballed into a clash between the police and lawyers at Tis Hazari. The violence left at least 20 policemen injured, lawyer groups said 40 of their colleagues were also hurt.

Around 50 people injured, including two advocates hit by gunshots, and many parked vehicles burned and vandalised.

The police report to the MHA is a factual report giving out a sequence of events that led to the clash on Saturday, a senior MHA official, who did not want to be named, said.

The Delhi Police reports directly to the Union home ministry. The home ministry is keeping a close watch over the situation, a second senior MHA official said.

Legal work in the trial courts have suffered since Monday with lawyers skipping work to protest against Saturday’s violence. The lawyers are demanding arrest of the policemen who had allegedly fired at the lawyers, leaving two of them injured.

On Monday, an auto-rickshaw driver’s arm was fractured as lawyers allegedly chased and attacked cops, journalists and civilians near courts in the national capital.

Police said they received complaints from four people on Monday about they being attacked outside Saket court in south Delhi.

The Bar Council of India on Monday said the videos and images being circulated on social media were meant to “malign the image of the Bar”.

The Delhi high court had taken up the Tis Hazari matter on Monfay and ordered the transfer of two senior police officers and the suspension of two other officers. The court also granted and compensation to the lawyers injured in the clash.