New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the committee probing alleged police excesses during the NEET protests to give immediate attention to complaints of sexual assault and molestation involving women protesters.
The direction was issued on Monday by a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant after senior counsel Shobha Gupta urged the court to take suo motu cognisance of allegations concerning the July 20 CJP protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
Interim Report Sought
Responding to the request, the CJI said the High-Powered Inquiry Committee had already been instructed to examine complaints of sexual assault on a priority basis.
The court’s order had specifically asked the panel to urgently look into alleged incidents of targeted violence, harassment and molestation of female protesters. “The committee has been requested to examine it on a priority basis, and immediately submit an interim report,” the CJI said.
Justice Bagchi noted that a separate writ petition had been filed on the same issue and that the committee had also been asked to investigate the allegations, as reported by The Tribune.
Five-Member Panel
The Supreme Court constituted the five-member High-Powered Inquiry Committee to examine alleged police violence against student protesters and attacks on police personnel during last month’s CJP protests.
The panel is headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice R Subhash Reddy. Its other members are former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi High Court judge Shalinder Kaur, former CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla and former Meghalaya DGP LR Bishnoi.