Plea in Delhi high court seeks to regulate powers of civil defence volunteers

The Delhi high court, on Monday, asked the Delhi government to treat as representation a plea which had raised the issues of safety and security of women in the

The Delhi high court, on Monday, asked the Delhi government to treat as representation a plea which had raised the issues of safety and security of women in the city, the misuse of the Khaki uniform by civil defence volunteers, delegation of powers to take photographs of women by these volunteers and its consequences while seeking regulation of powers given to the volunteers.

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A bench comprising chief justice DN Patel and justice Prateek Jalan heard the plea by Amrita Dhawan, Delhi Pradesh Mahila Congress President and lawyer, which also sought directions to disallow civil defence volunteers from wearing a khaki uniform and allow only that uniform which is clearly distinguishable from the police’s.

The court, during the proceedings, sought to know whether there were any rules or guidelines which barred volunteers or other persons from donning a khaki uniform.

Appearing for the petitioner, her counsel, advocate Arpit Bhargava told the court that Indian Army had passed an order disallowing anybody from using the colour and pattern of their uniform. However, there was no similar rule with respect to police uniforms.

Bhargava told the court that the male civil defence volunteers should be disallowed to take photographs of women till new rules are formulated keeping in view the safety and security of women in the city. Highlighting news reports, Bhargava told the bench that six civil defence volunteers thrashed a Delhi Police constable for not wearing a mask properly.

He also said that two civil defence volunteers were booked for extorting money from a grocery store owner for allegedly not wearing mask properly, a person (who had applied for civil defence and is not an officer of Delhi Police) was arrested for posing as a cop in a fake uniform (impersonating a Delhi policeman) and issuing fake fines.

Advocate Sanjoy Ghose, additional standing counsel of the Delhi government, said that such a direction has to come from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which has not been made a party to the case.

The plea also contended that several crimes have been alleged against these civil defence volunteers such as extortion, threatening, intimidation and harassment of the public at large. It also said that there are issues related to safety and security of women because their photographs are clicked without any reason and presence of female volunteers.

The plea sought that a policy should be formulated where women can be given an opportunity to file an FIR under Section 354 IPC (assault or criminal force on women) against any civil defence volunteer for taking her photographs illegally in a vehicle or otherwise.

The PIL also said that there is no regulation of the private mobile phones of civil defence volunteers who may misuse the photographs taken.

The court asked the Delhi government to treat the plea as a representation and address all the issues expeditiously.