THE Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would constitute a highpowered committee comprising retired apex court and High Court judges, a former DGP, and an exCBI director to examine allegations of police excesses against student protesters in Delhi recently and violence against police personnel. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said an order for constituting the committee would be released on Wednesday after it receives suggestions from different parties on other members to be included in the panel. It said the high-powered committee will be entrusted with the task of fact-finding and it will be provided with all the necessary facilities. “We are quite sure that the committee will give an immediate voice and audience to any victim who approaches it. We will await the recommendations which the committee will make from time to time, and the necessary legal consequences would follow,” the top court said, after counsel for several petitioners submitted they were targeted by the authorities and public for participating in the protest. The court said that the committee will also look into allegations concerning sexual assault and online harassment of female protestors and victimisation of other vulnerable persons through social media. “Whosoever is responsible, there can be no excuse and no justification. It must be taken seriously and taken to its logical conclusion. That is why we are constituting a high-powered committee. The committee will look into each and every aspect of these matters,” CJI Kant said, adding that the panel would also examine complaints and allegations made by female protesters who were reportedly targeted during the protest march in Delhi and other areas.

 

The top court further said that it would direct the handing over of video footage and CCTV recordings of the violence during the July 20 Parliament march in Delhi to the high-powered committee for examination. The bench was hearing a batch of pleas alleging police excesses against student protesters during the agitation spearheaded by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and allegations of violence against police personnel. The bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to furnish details of FIRs implicating the student protesters, which are to be quashed, indicating that the court may exercise its plenary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution. “It is the life of students, which is at stake. We have to consider this. They have a future ahead. They have the right to protest under Article 19,” the bench told a counsel, opposing quashing of cases against student protesters without them tendering an apology. Mehta said police had identified more than 2,800 “anti-social elements”, who had been involved in heinous offences in the past, as responsible for the violence during the July 20 protest. Senior advocates Menaka Guruswamy, Vrinda Grover and N Hariharan, appearing for several victims of violence said that police were not authorised to use surveillance techniques, facial recognition and other digital tracking methods and store data with a private entity, as it was a violation of their privacy. The bench said the constitutional questions concerning facial recognition technology, surveillance, privacy and Article 21 will ultimately be decided by the court itself, and not by the committee. “The committee will only examine the factual questions, including whether the use of force was excessive. Pursuant to its report, the larger legal and constitutional questions concerning facial recognition technology will be considered by this court,” it said.