India, July 24 -- Additional DCP Sandeep Lamba of the Delhi Police's North-East district has been suspended from duty at the Jantar Mantar protest site after a video purportedly showed him assaulting a woman protester during the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) "Chalo Sansad" rally. The suspension comes amid growing scrutiny of the Delhi Police's handling of the protest and criticism over its use of force during the march. Lamba was seen in the viral video allegedly striking a woman who was protesting against Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at Jantar Mantar on July 20. Thousands of CJP workers had gathered at the site before marching towards Parliament, demanding Pradhan's resignation over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination.
The incident prompted former Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale to file a police complaint against the officer. In a post on X, Gokhale said he lodged the complaint after the Delhi High Court was informed that no FIR had been registered against Lamba over the alleged assault. "Yesterday, in the Delhi High Court, the government's response to the petitions on police brutality was that no one had approached the police to file an FIR. So today I have filed a police complaint," Gokhale wrote. The alleged assault also came under scrutiny during proceedings before the Delhi High Court on Wednesday. Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan referred to the video footage and argued that Lamba appeared to be assaulting a woman who posed no threat to him.
"The accused is not to be absolved of responsibility for his conduct as a police officer," Sankaranarayanan submitted. The petitioners further alleged that the Delhi Police failed to follow standard operating procedures while dealing with the large-scale "Chalo Sansad" procession. They argued that water cannons, which are meant to be the first line of crowd-control measures, were not deployed, while tear gas was used despite being a measure of last resort. Public interest litigations filed by Umesh Kumar and Anshul Kumar were heard by a bench comprising Delhi High Court Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia. The court issued notices to the Delhi Police, the Centre and the NHRC, seeking replies within four weeks. It also directed the respondents to preserve all records, including CCTV footage and video evidence, related to police action during the protest.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.