Delhi Police chief sits on inquiry report of Ramjas College journalist attack case

The recent attacks on journalists, and the subsequent outcry against the Delhi Police’s brutal method to silence the fourth pillar of democracy refuses to die down. Amid this controversy, it has emerged, that the Commissioner of Police Amulya Patnaik has been quietly sitting on the inquiry report of Ramjas College incident in which journalists were beaten up on the watch of Deputy Commissioner of Police Jatin Narwal in February last year.

Narwal had refuted the allegations of ordering an attack on journalists, claiming he was simply following orders to remove journalists from the area.

The Special Investigating Team (SIT) under Delhi Police elite unit -- Crime Branch – said they have completed a fair investigation into the brutal attack on journalists which took place during the protests outside Ramjas College in Delhi University.

 “The report has been submitted to the Commissioner of Police Amulya Patnaik and is kept at his office in a sealed cover,” sources in the force said.  The Delhi Police is under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The report, it appears, is gathering dust on the first floor of the Delhi Police Headquarters. Despite the fact that insiders confirm that the report was submitted a long time ago, no action has been taken so far.

When asked about exact date of submission, a senior police officer, who is part of the SIT, said, “Can’t remember the date. But we did our job and submitted it long ago to the boss (CP Delhi).”

Patnaik, who refrains from interacting with public as well as media like his predecessor Alok Kumar Verma, had formed a SIT to probe into the attack on journalists to pacify the aggrieved victims and to probe clashes between two groups of students.

Also, he had personally called up media persons who were pinned down and beaten up by cops.

The Crime branch sources revealed that all the policemen were given clean chits. The officers of the crime branch refrained from coming on record or sharing any more details.

The Ramjas Incident

On February 22, journalists were bashed up while covering clashes between two groups of Delhi University campus over the disruption of a literary festival in Ramjas College.  

Violence erupted after students from Delhi University colleges and JNU congregated outside Ramjas with the intention to hold a protest march.

The journalists, who were covering the incident and were capturing the acts of the police and the students on their cameras, were beaten up by local police after DCP Narwal directed them to remove scribes from the area.

Afterwards, erstwhile Special Commissioner of Police SBK Singh had ordered an enquiry into the matter, which would be headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) North, Esha Pandey, who was working under Narwal.

It’s believed that Pandey was carrying out a fair probe and had found mismanagement on the police’s part. However, Patnaik shunted her out from the district and send her to the Special Police Unit for Women as DCP stating she was ‘not tactful enough to deal with the protest’.

Thereafter, the enquiry was transferred to crime branch and SIT was formed under then Joint Commissioner of Police Praveer Ranjan, who is considered to be close to Patnaik as well as Verma, who is currently Director Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Ranjan is currently Special Commissioner of Police, doing a job of Joint Commissioner of Police Southern Range. It is in the southern range of the city that the journalists and photo journalists were attacked twice this month leading to protests.

Pandey was immediately relieved from her duty and was replaced by Deputy Commissioner of Police Economic Offence Wing, Harender Singh.

Meanwhile, Narwal still holds the post of DCP North Delhi, while the file that looked to ascertain facts about the fateful day is still gathering dust.

Patiala House Court attack 

It is pertinent to mention that in February 2016, the Delhi Police was mutely watching while a mob led by lawyers, assaulted students, professors and journalists gathered at the Patiala House Court, where former JNU Student Union President Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested in a sedition case, was brought for remand proceedings.

 It was Narwal, who was then custodian of law-and-order of Lutyens Delhi. He failed to gather intelligence about the mob attack on journalists.

He even ordered his team not to interfere when journalists were under attack. He was following the order of his senior officer Mukesh Kumar Meena, then Joint Commissioner of Police. Meena is currently posted in Mizoram police as additional director general of police.  

In New Delhi, currently IPS officer Madhur Verma is Deputy Commissioner and he is also the force spokesperson. He currently trying to manage to control the damage done by his colleagues.

Delhi Police and media – an uneasy relationship

The relationship between police and media soured a month after Alok Kumar Verma was appointed Commissioner of Police in February 29, 2016. Almost a year after, on February 2, 2017 he joined CBI.

Even as Special Commissioner of Police and Chief Spokesperson Dependra Pathak is trying to bridge the gap between the force and media but due to arrogance and insensitivity of a few Delhi Police officers, the relationship is deteriorating further.

To add to Delhi Police’s woes, Deputy Commissioner of Police Chinmoy Biswal and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Amit Sharma, who are in charge of law-and-order in South East District, closed their eyes when their men manhandled a photo journalist in second week of March this year.

Attack during sealing drive 

A photojournalist with a Hindi daily was manhandled, detained, and taken to police station while he was covering the sealing drive in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar. He had captured photographs of Sharma slapping a store employee. Thereafter, the police snatched his camera and forced him to delete the photograph. The photojournalist and his colleague were then detained at the Amar Colony police station.

This led to major crisis in the first week of March, which was tactfully handled by Pathak who declared, “An enquiry will take place in the matter.” But whether any action would be taken on the enquiry report or it will be lying in dust on first floor is something we will have to wait and see.  

In the incident of attack on journalists on March 23, Pathak on Monday said that the Delhi Police has registered a case against its own officer on the complaint of a journalist who was allegedly molested by him during a protest march organised by JNU students.  Pathak said that following a vigilance inquiry, the Delhi Cantt Station House Officer was booked under molestation charges and sent to district police line.

The case has been registered under Section 354 A of the IPC (Sexual harassment) at the Sarojini Nagar police station. Vidyadhar Singh, SHO Delhi Cantt, has been sent to District Lines and the case has been handed over to Crime Branch of the Delhi Police.

It is again the elite unit of the force – Crime Branch – who has been given task to carry out a probe into the matter. The Crime Branch is currently headed by 1991-batch IPS officer R P Upadhyay as Special Commissioner of Police.

However, when a female journalist was molested and two others were attacked many Delhi Police top officers were on the spot.

Ranjan along with Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi range) Ajay Chaudhary and at least six Deputy Commissioners of Police were present at the spot. However, only Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Kumar Gyanesh came out to help the journalists while Deputy Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Monika Bhardwaj did not stop her team from attacking a photo journalist.

But no action has been taken against the officers who were mutely watching.  Further, the Delhi Police has also ignored the guidelines for media management to ensure freedom of speech by its reporting authority – Ministry of Home Affairs.