New Delhi: The Delhi Police Thursday put on hold the implementation of a notification issued by the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi allowing police officers to depose before court through video conferencing from designated locations at police stations.
A call on the implementation will be taken after Union Home Minister Amit Shah meets Bar representatives, a Delhi Police spokesperson said Thursday. The date of the meeting was not immediately made public by the Delhi Police.
The development comes in the wake of lawyers across the national capital demanding the withdrawal of what they called ‘kaala kanoon’ (‘black laws’).
Shortly after the Delhi Police released a statement, the coordination committee of the All District Courts Bar Associations of Delhi called off the demonstration planned for Friday outside the L-G’s residence. They announced the return of lawyers to court duties across all district courts in Delhi. Meanwhile, a plea challenging the notification is pending for hearing before the Delhi High Court.
In the notification issued on the order of L-G Vinay Kumar Saxena, 222 locations are designated across all districts and units in the national capital for deposition of police officers during trial or court proceedings.
Several lawyer bodies condemned the move as one without neutrality, leaving court proceedings vulnerable to manipulation.
Thursday was the sixth consecutive day of protests by lawyers after they submitted their objections to the notification issued by the L-G on 13 August.
“From a procedural standpoint, when an officer deposes from within his own police station, there can be no assurance that he is not aided by undisclosed notes, documents, or external inputs. Such a setting inherently lacks neutrality and renders the deposition susceptible to manipulation,” the co-ordination committee of the All District Court Bar Associations of Delhi submitted to the L-G’s office last week.
“Further, the handling and presentation of physical evidence, such as weapons or seized articles, cannot be carried out effectively in such remote circumstances, thereby compromising the evidentiary process and the fairness of the trial,” the submission added.
As protests intensified, lawyers’ bodies at the High Court and Supreme Court had also condemned the notification, saying it was unacceptable and demanding its withdrawal.
The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) also condemned the move, describing it as one that creates a perception of institutional imbalance. It also expressed regret that such a big move was taken unilaterally by the L-G without consulting either the judiciary or the Bar bodies.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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