Tensions rise between Delhi, Himachal police over Youth Congress workers’ arrest
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A standoff reportedly broke out between personnel of the Delhi Police and the Himachal Pradesh Police on the Chandigarh–Shimla highway on Thursday over the arrests of three members of the Indian Youth Congress in connection with a protest at the India AI Impact Summit.
According to reports, both police forces accused each other of interfering with their respective investigations.
The Congress-led Himachal Pradesh government registered a first information report against several Delhi Police personnel, alleging that members of the ruling party’s youth wing had been forcibly taken away.
Media reports said the Delhi Police team was repeatedly stopped while transporting the three arrested individuals to the national capital. The arrests stemmed from a protest by members of the Indian Youth Congress during the artificial intelligence summit in Delhi on February 20, where slogans were raised against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and placards were displayed making allegations against him.
The Delhi Police, which functions under the Union Home Ministry, registered a case against the protesters, accusing them of rioting and of promoting enmity between groups.
On Wednesday evening, three members of the youth organisation were taken into custody from a hotel in the Chirgaon area of Shimla district. Reports said the Delhi Police attempted to produce them before a local court for transit remand, but were allegedly prevented from doing so by officials from Himachal Pradesh, Scroll.in reported.
An officer from the Delhi Police was quoted as saying that court staff were unavailable when the team approached the court, and that the local police subsequently kept the visiting officers confined for several hours while asking them to produce copies of the FIR and court permission for the operation.
The Delhi Police team was later allowed to leave but was again stopped at the Shoghi police post along the Chandigarh–Shimla highway. A member of the Delhi Police team claimed that they were informed that kidnapping charges had been registered against them and that they were detained.
While the Delhi Police maintained that they had secured transit remand, Himachal Pradesh Police officials countered that no proper documentation had been shown and that the arrests were unlawful. The state authorities also alleged that established procedures had been violated as the local police had not been informed prior to the arrests.
Videos circulating on social media showed personnel from both forces arguing and recording each other during the confrontation.
The Shimla Police was quoted as saying by PTI: “A case has been registered against 15-20 unknown people in plain clothes for forcibly taking three people staying in a resort in Rohru. They also took the CCTV installed in the resort with them and did not give any receipt.”
Naresh Chauhan, media adviser to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, said that inter-state arrests are governed by prescribed procedures and added that, according to information available to the state government, the Delhi Police had not followed the required process, leading to the registration of an FIR.