New Delhi, June 14 A letter petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday by a number of retired Judges and Senior Advocates, urging the Apex Court to take up a suo motu cognisance of the issue regarding state and police violence against protestors and the Muslim community in Uttar Pradesh, in the wake of objectionable statements made by some BJP spokespersons (now suspended) on Prophet Hazrat Muhammad.
The petition sought urgent intervention of the Apex Court regarding the recent incidents of violence and repression by state authorities on citizens in Uttar Pradesh.
It urged the Court to take cognisance of the recent acts in Uttar Pradesh of illegal detention, violence on protestors and those in police custody, following protests against certain objectionable remarks made by BJP spokespersons (now suspended) on Prophet Hazrat Muhammad for bulldozing of residences.
This letter petition is being presented as an urgent appeal to the Supreme Court to take SMC of
It said, “Instead of giving protestors an opportunity of being heard and engaging in peaceful protests, the Uttar Pradesh state administration appears to have sanctioned taking violent action against such individuals. The Chief Minister of the Uttar Pradesh state has reportedly officially exhorted officials ‘to take such action against those guilty that it sets an example so that no one commits a crime or takes law into their hands in future’.”
It also claimed that the Chief Minister has further directed that the National Security Act, 1980, and the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, be invoked against those found guilty of unlawful protests. It is these remarks that have emboldened the police to brutally and unlawfully torture protestors, the letter petition claimed.
Pursuant to this, the Uttar Pradesh police arrested more than 300 persons and registered FIRs against protesting citizens. Videos of young men in police custody being beaten with lathis, houses of protestors being demolished without notice or any cause of action, and protestors from the minority Muslim community being chased and beaten by the police, were circulating on social media, shaking the conscience of the nation, the letter petition said.
“Such a brutal clampdown by a ruling administration is an unacceptable subversion of the rule of law and a violation of the rights of citizens, and makes a mockery of the Constitution and fundamental rights guaranteed by the State. The coordinated manner in which the police and development authorities have acted lead to the clear conclusion that demolitions are a form of collective extra judicial punishment, attributable to a state policy which is illegal,” it added.
As per the petition, the mettle of the judiciary was tested in such critical times. On many occasions, including in the recent past, the judiciary has faced such challenges and emerged with distinction as the custodian of rights of people. Some recent examples are the suo motu actions taken by the Supreme Court in the migrant workers matter and the Pegasus matter, it said.
In the same spirit and in its role as the custodian of the Constitution, the former judges, therefore, urge the SC to take immediate suo motu action to arrest the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, specifically involving the high-handedness of the police and state authorities, and the brutal clampdown on the fundamental rights of citizens.
“We hope and trust the Supreme Court will rise to the occasion and not let the citizens and the Constitution down at this critical juncture,” the letter petition filed before the Supreme Court said.
