Supreme Court Constitutes High-Powered Committee to Probe Police Action Against Jantar Mantar Protesters

THE SUPREME COURT has constituted a High-Powered Committee (‘HPC’) headed by former Supreme Court judge R. Subhash Reddy to inquire into the allegations of use of excessive force and violence by Delhi Police against the protesting students at Jantar Mantar last month.

The HPC will also comprise former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Ravi Shankar Jha; former judge of the Delhi High Court Justice Shalinder Kaur; former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (‘CBI’) Rishi Kumar Shukla; and former Director General of Police, Meghalaya, Dr. L.R. Bishnoi as members.

A Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (‘CJI’) and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana outlined the mandate of the HPC to inquire into:

1. The use of excessive force and violence against protesters by police authorities and other agencies, including the deployment of pellet guns, electric batons, lathi charges, and tear gas without adequate warning or proportionality, resulting in severe bodily harm and injuries, some of which are alleged to be of a grievous and lasting nature;

2. The question of ensuring a proportionate and measured police response during protests, public gatherings, and peaceful assemblies, so as to strike an appropriate balance between the maintenance of public order and the constitutional right to peaceful dissent;

3. The desirability of banning the use of metallic kinetic projectiles or pellets fired from pump-action rifles or projectile-action guns, having regard to the grave and, at times, irreversible bodily harm occasioned by their deployment against protesters;

4. The necessity of ensuring that police and security personnel wear proper uniforms and visible nameplates at the time of effecting arrests or using force during crowd-control operations, so as to secure accountability and enable the identification of individual officers;

5. An inquiry into the allegations pertaining to the monitoring and surveillance of protesters by police personnel, and the extent to which such measures, if undertaken, were consistent with the protesters’ constitutional rights to privacy and free assembly;

6. The alleged incidents of targeted violence, harassment, molestation and/or any secondary victimisation directed against female protesters, which, given the gravity and sensitivity of the allegations, warrant a focused and expeditious inquiry;

7. The provision of medical and other requisite support, including award of compensation, to victims of alleged police abuse, including the manner and adequacy of such support extended thus far;

8. Regulation of the issuance of blanket prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, so as to prevent their use as a routine or pre-emptive measure that forecloses the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly rather than as a genuine, proportionate response to a real and imminent threat to public order; and

9. The establishment of strict constitutional thresholds and safeguards to prevent Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, from being invoked as an instrument to stifle political dissent and peaceful protest, thereby ensuring that the provision remains confined to its intended purpose and is not permitted to operate as a chilling restraint upon constitutionally protected speech and assembly.