The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the police chiefs of Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to submit reports within 10 days spelling out what action they had taken or proposed to take against those who damaged public and private properties during the week-long Gujjar agitation.
A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and DK Jain took the step reacting to media reports of large-scale property damage during the stir, and said the police chiefs would have to give reasons if no action had been initiated as yet against the offenders.
“It is a national shame when hordes of people are destroying public and private properties,” the bench said, a day after the Gujjar leaders called off their agitation demanding Scheduled Tribe status in Rajasthan. The state government has agreed to have their demand examined by a panel.
Noting that no effort seemed to have been made to check the violence during the stir, the court appointed senior advocate Rajiv Dhavan as amicus curiae to assist it in the case, and fixed June 18 for the next hearing.
“As the electronic media shows, the offenders feel that they have done some very heroic or laudable thing because they show their beaming faces when the TV camera is focused on them,” the court observed.
{{/usCountry}}“As the electronic media shows, the offenders feel that they have done some very heroic or laudable thing because they show their beaming faces when the TV camera is focused on them,” the court observed.
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