Provide safety for Agnivesh police told

HC seeks stance of Centre, AAP in transferring case

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the city police to provide protection to social activist Swami Agnivesh who had registered two police complaints against members of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) for allegedly attacking him here and in Pakur district of Jharkhand.

Justice Najmi Wajiri sought response of the Centre, Delhi government and Delhi police on Agnivesh's plea seeking transfer of the case from police to the CBI or any other central independent investigating agency. The high court put up the matter for further hearing on February 27, 2019.

Agnivesh, in his plea, claimed that the state government and the police are not conducting a proper investigation in accordance with the law, "evidencing that they are either not serious about bringing the perpetrators of these heinous criminal acts to book or are deliberately trying to save and shield them".

"BJP, being the ruling party in the Centre has totally subverted the process of law in collusion with state government and police, thereby ruling out the possibility of any free and fair investigation in the case," the plea, filed through advocate Mehmood Pracha, alleged.

It alleged that "false propaganda with purely political motives of dividing the country on the lines of caste and religion" drew support from incidents like the attacks on him.

The plea said that since he has been attacked at two places, thousand miles apart, clearly indicated that the threat to his life exists all over the country and thus he required round the clock police protection in order to ensure safety of his life and property.

On July 17, the activist was on his way to Litipara area in Pakur district of Jharkhand to participate in an event organised by the Pahariya tribal community when he was attacked allegedly by some BJP youth wing supporters.

A month later, on August 17, Agnivesh was allegedly heckled and assaulted near the BJP headquarters in Delhi, when he was on his way to pay homage to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee there.

He had alleged that the attackers were BJP workers. The Supreme Court had earlier refused to order a CBI probe into the matter, saying the state police was already investigating the matter.

The top court had, however, granted liberty to Agnivesh to make a representation to the competent authority for providing security.