Delhi student protests: SC says no to separate probe into sexual assault charges
Here's the latest protest news from across India:
The Supreme Court on Monday clarified that there was no need to initiate separate suo motu proceedings to examine allegations of sexual assault against women protesters during the July 20 student protests in the national capital, as the issue has been referred to and prioritised by a five-member committee headed by its former judge R Subhash Reddy.
Adding to this, The HPEC was constituted to conduct an independent and impartial inquiry into competing allegations. (ANI) A bench, comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, shared that the high-powered enquiry committee (HPEC), constituted last week to conduct an independent inquiry into allegations of violence during the protests, had specifically been directed to examine complaints of targeted violence, harassment, molestation and secondary victimisation of women protesters on priority.
Meanwhile, The clarification came after senior advocate Shobha Gupta urged the bench to take suo motu cognisance of alleged sexual assault of women protesters during the protests held on July 20.
Notably, Gupta submitted that there were widely reported allegations of women being molested and sexually assaulted by police personnel and sought a separate mechanism for investigating the complaints.
As per the latest buzz, The bench pointed to its August 18 order constituting the HPEC and shared the issue had been specifically entrusted to the committee. The CJI shared that the committee had been asked to examine the allegations on a priority basis and submit an interim report at the earliest.
In further updates, The bench pointed out that the committee chairperson had been empowered to appoint nodal officers, following which the procedure for submitting complaints would be notified.
On top of that, The HPEC was constituted to conduct an independent and impartial inquiry into competing allegations arising from the July 20 student protest—petitions alleging excessive force by police as well as pleas concerning violence against police personnel and legality of the protest.
Other members of the committee include Justice (retired) Ravi Shankar Jha, former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court, Justice (retired) Shalinder Kaur, former Delhi high court judge, Rishi Kumar Shukla, former Central Bureau of Investigation director, and LR Bishnoi, retired director general of police, Meghalaya.
Source: Hindustan Times