A Delhi court has dismissed an advocate's plea for action against policemen for restraining lawyers and litigants from entering the court complex when former Haryana Chief Minister O P Chautala and 54 others were sentenced in the JBT teachers' recruitment scam.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Sanjeev Kumar rejected the revision plea filed by the advocate against the order of a magistrate and said police personnel were discharging their official duties and their action was bonafide for maintaining law and order in the "unprecedented" situation.
"The fact is not disputed that on January 22, 2013, an unprecedented situation has arisen as on that day Om Parkash Chautala, ex CM, was to be sentenced as he was convicted in a criminal case, therefore, police has made huge arrangement to avoid any untoward incident and to maintain law and order situation.
"As a judge in this court, I had also personally seen that heavy security arrangement was made by the police as huge gathering of public was present and even stones were lying on the road, which sufficiently indicates that supporters might have done something wrong or had tried to enter into the court forcibly which police was preventing," the ASJ said.
Justifying police action, the court said it is admitted case of the complainant that supporters of Chautala had gathered at the spot and were creating law and order problem.
The lawyer, who is practising in Rohini Courts complex here, said in his complaint that on the morning of January 22, 2013, when he reached near Rohini court by his car, all the roads towards the complex were blocked by Delhi Police officials in the name of maintaining public law and order for O P Chautala.
The same incident had happened on January 16 when Chautala was convicted, he said.
He said that after some time, he again tried to enter the court but was stopped and when the lawyers protested, they were "manhandled and lathicharged and brutally beaten by the police officials".
